Good day! Germany unveils plan to legalize marijuana nationwide

October 26, 2022

Good day! Germany unveils plan to legalize marijuana nationwide

BERLIN – Germany’s health minister on Wednesday unveiled a plan to decriminalize possession of up to 30 grams (just over 1 ounce) of cannabis and allow the substance to be sold to adults for recreational purposes in a controlled market.

Berlin will examine with the European Union Executive Commission whether the plan approved by the federal government is compatible with EU law and will only proceed with the legislation “on this basis” if the green light is given, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said.

Lauterbach said the new rules could serve as a “model for Europe”. Realistically, they won’t come into effect before 2024, he said.

The plan calls for cannabis to be grown under license and sold to adults in licensed outlets to combat the black market, Lauterbach said. Individuals could grow up to three plants and purchase or own 20 to 30 grams of marijuana.

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Full legalization with strict regulations

If the legislation came as planned, “this would be the most liberal cannabis legalization project in Europe on the one hand, and the most heavily regulated market on the other,” Lauterbach said.

“Improved youth and health protection” are the central goals of the government proposal.

“It could be a model for Europe,” which has a patchwork of often restrictive laws, he said.

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The minister, who himself has long been skeptical about legalizing cannabis, argued that the current system is not working as consumption is rising and the illegal market is thriving. He said 4 million people in Germany, a country of 83 million people, had used cannabis in the past year and a quarter of those aged 18 to 24 had used it.

Lauterbach told Germany Germany does not want to emulate the model long practiced by the Netherlands, Germany’s northwestern neighbor. It combines decriminalization with little market regulation.

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Consumption lounges not yet allowed

Germany will examine whether cannabis can be consumed where it is sold, but is not currently planning to do so, Lauterbach said. The same applies to the sale of the substance in edible form.

Shops selling cannabis may not also sell alcohol or tobacco products and may not be located near schools.

The government does not plan to set a price but does intend to set quality requirements, the health minister said. He left open whether a “cannabis tax” would be levied on top of the normal sales tax to fund information about the drug’s risks, but said the product shouldn’t be made so expensive that it couldn’t be sold on the black market compete.

Result of a political deal

The cannabis plan is one of a series of reforms outlined in the coalition agreement between the three social-liberal parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government last year. At the time, they agreed that the “social impact” of the new law would be reviewed after four years.

Among other liberalization plans, the government has scraped a ban on doctors “advertising” abortion services from the German penal code. She also wants to ease the path to German citizenship, lift restrictions on dual citizenship and lower the minimum age for voting in national and European elections from 18 to 16.

The government also wants to repeal 40-year-old laws that require transgender people to seek a psychological evaluation and a court decision before officially changing their gender, a process that often involves intimate questions. It is to be replaced by a new “self-determination law”.

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