At an undisclosed site in Germany's Bavaria state, pharmaceutical CEO Philip Schetter opens a 75-centimeter-thick steel door that secures his wares: vast amounts of cannabis.

"Better safe than sorry," he says during a visit to the compound run by Cantourage, a producer and distributor of cannabis-based medicinal products.

Marijuana has been partially legalized in Germany, but the firm fears its wares from as far as Jamaica, Uganda and New Zealand could make it an attractive target for criminals.