Germany bows to pressure from the EU

Germany has bowed to pressure from the European Union (EU) to scale back plans to legalize cannabis. Her revised legalization plan came after a meeting with the EU’s executive board.

Germany’s agriculture minister continues to insist the country is “pushing” for legalization. But Germany’s health minister said the government would only legalize if it got the green light from the EU

However, the minister told the media that “consumption will become legal this year”.

Germany bows to pressure from the EU

So what if Germany bows to pressure from the EU? A 2004 decision compels EU member states to ensure that cannabis sales are “punished by criminal penalties that are effective, proportionate and dissuasive”.

The EU allows member states to detail their own regulation of the law. There is also scope for self-consumption.

For this reason there will be no large cannabis producers in Germany like in Canada or the legal American states. The original plan was to legalize like American states where the government takes a more or less hands-off approach and collects tax revenues.

Instead, the German response to EU pressure is to allow non-profit cannabis social clubs. German adults can also grow cannabis at home (limited to three plants).

The federal government will limit cannabis social clubs to 500 members. Even Germans can only belong to one club at a time. Clubs can distribute up to seven seeds per person or five cuttings per month.

You must be over 18 to purchase up to 30 grams per month. Over 21, the limit is 50 grams per month, or 25 grams per day. German legalization does not include on-site consumption in these Cannabis Social Clubs.

The second phase of German cannabis legalization

Germany bowing to EU pressure means it must take legalization slow. The first phase involves Cannabis Social Clubs trying to crowd out illicit markets.

The second phase, limited to a five-year pilot program, will see retail operations in select cities. This approach is similar to Swiss legalization.

If successful, the second phase will be extended to all of Germany. So far, details on the second phase are hazy. A start date or the selected cities have yet to be determined.

The pilot program aims to ease EU pressure on cannabis legalization in Germany. By testing commercial supply chains, the argument goes, German officials could study the impact of legal cannabis on public health and young people.

Although Germany is bowing to EU pressure and the second phase has yet to receive EU approval, German officials remain adamant that German legalization will be a “model for Europe”.

Better model than Canada?

Canada is the only G7 country to have legalized recreational cannabis at the federal level. While the Trudeau administration designed the program to promote “public health” and protect young people, it was in fact a top-down corporate buyout.

Canada has the worst of both worlds in that sense. A commercial cannabis market for companies under the guise of “public health and safety”. Where the only way to succeed is to have deep pockets and sell equity.

At the same time, authorities are targeting the bottom-up cannabis social clubs that existed before legalization. Social clubs made up of members who voted for the government, which has promised to legalize them.

The Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club, for example, is almost 30 years old and has over 8,600 members. They are a perfect example of a successful Social Cannabis Club. They should be legal, but instead the BC government is doing everything it can to shut them down.

And they are far from the only ones.

With Canadian legalization, there is no place for nonprofits and the little guy. In Canada, legalizing cannabis is a corporate playground.

Germany bows to pressure from the EU

As Germany bows to EU pressure to legalize cannabis, it’s a slap in the face to national sovereignty, but it has at least produced a plan that focuses on cannabis social clubs rather than rewarding deals with major cannabis producers.

When legalizing cannabis is about public health and safety, the German cannabis clubs are the model for Europe (and the world) to follow.

But legalizing cannabis isn’t about making public health busybodies feel better. It’s about your right to bodily autonomy. And in this sense the German plan suffers. THC limits and other prohibition regulations do not respect your rights.

Many expected Germany to bow to pressure from the EU. But the momentum for legal cannabis will eventually likely change international and European laws regarding the non-toxic herb.