Passers-by report a cannabis field with 2,500 plants in a remote German potato field

The situation in German is not without humor either. According to the Bild headline, Germany’s largest and most popular tabloid with 1.37 copies sold daily, the police are now acting as “your friend and harvest helper” when it comes to illegal cannabis cultivation in the Siegen-Wittgenstein area (if not in other places across the country) goes country). This is a predominantly rural region about 80 miles north of Frankfurt, the financial center of Europe.

According to Bild, the bust came after passers-by noticed a large outdoor cannabis plantation about 3,000 square feet and about 2,500 plants located in a remote potato field. They dutifully reported this to the police.

The newspaper also sarcastically noted that the “harvest squad” was then dispatched to collect the offending biological material.

The plants have now been sent in for testing to determine their cannabinoid content.

The farmer who owns the field can be accused of violating the Narcotics Act if it turns out that he was involved in the cultivation – or knew about it. Even if the plants turn out to be just hemp with less than 0.02% THC, it’s still a potential federal crime. As of now, the German regulations are no longer in line with the EU judgment on CBD.

However, the temperature of both the political climate here and the German mass media is so high when it comes to the forthcoming leisure reform. It may be underway thanks to the legislature, but there are many Germans who are still ambiguous about this kind of change. And there are also many who are beginning to see the gross injustice of the current situation – which will likely remain the status quo for at least the next 12 to 24 months unless some sort of safe haven is also introduced with the passage of the law .

German guerrilla cultivation

The idea of ​​growing cannabis “wildly” on someone else’s property – also known as “guerrilla growing” – is of course not an unknown phenomenon in Germany. Despite a short outdoor growing season, the country is lush and green in the summer months, heavily forested in some areas, and of course has remote rural areas where few people venture regularly.

In addition, indoor cultivation is of course also widespread in this country.

Despite this, or perhaps precisely because of this, there is (so far) no talk of amnesty for those who stand in the midst of changing times at the national political level, where the law is being undermined. As a result, police across the country have not stopped enforcing existing law. In fact, police crackdowns on both recreational users and CBD companies appear to be increasing, although there are signs of change.

How the coalition government will deal with home growing – or unlicensed growing on a scale similar to this incident – is a question that has not yet been formally answered. However, given the comments in the German press and the moving legalization discussion in other European countries (see Malta, Luxembourg and Portugal), it is unlikely that this right – albeit in a limited form – will not be included.

Additionally, there must be a way to address the unregistered cultivation of a legalized plant – albeit one with narcotic properties if it is high in THC. Patient networks are already widespread, albeit obviously underground. Nonprofit medicinal growing, even at this scale, is unlikely to simply go away — and certainly not overnight.

Incentives for legal cultivation and purchases

There is already a debate about how cannabis products should be priced and, just as importantly, taxed in order to make the legal market attractive and affordable for consumers once legalized. This is all the more important in times of historical inflation and the uncomfortable reality that many reputable medical users in Germany have so far fallen through the cracks.

It is also likely that products in the legal market will be priced according to THC concentration.

The reality is that most users, including medical ones, would prefer to skip cultivation (which is both labor intensive and takes space, time, and money to succeed). However, it’s also a no-brainer that guerrilla growing will never go away entirely.

However, it will certainly decrease as legal access to the facility increases. As a result, the German Police Specialization “Cultivation” is likely to be an underused professional qualification.