Legalization of cannabis in Germany delayed

The federal government is delaying cannabis legalization as it has yet to submit proposals to the European Commission. According to this, Germans will not be allowed to see legal cannabis until 2025.

In an email to Euronews, Germany’s Health Ministry confirmed that a bill to legalize cannabis was “currently in preparation”.

“A variety of legal and operational questions on implementation need to be answered and agreed between the relevant ministries” before the government can submit the amendment to the European Commission, the email reads.

The German coalition government announced plans to legalize cannabis in October 2022. Like Canadian legalization, the plan involves legalization of private consumption and a state-regulated supply and market.

But since the announcement, there has been a slow crawl towards each reform.

“The aim of the federal government is to use the controlled delivery to protect the health of consumers as best as possible, to ensure the protection of children and young people, to reduce drug-related crime and to curb black market trading,” said the Federal Ministry of Health.

Legalization of cannabis in Germany delayed: Pressure from Brussels

Germany would be the first country in the European Union (alongside Malta) to legalize cannabis, so they face scrutiny from Brussels.

Several European countries, including Austria, the Netherlands and Portugal, have decriminalized small amounts of cannabis. Dutch authorities in particular tend to look the other way when it comes to the country’s cannabis culture.

Luxembourg announced plans for legalization in 2018 but backed out after falling out with hardworking EU bureaucrats.

But Germany is a strong economy. If they left the EU, there would be no EU. One doesn’t expect cannabis legalization to be the trigger that unravels the EU, but stranger things have happened.

Still, analysts expect Berlin to take on Brussels in its cannabis policies and emerge victorious.

Hemp in Germany

Germany banned cannabis in the early 20th century as part of the broader international trend towards drug prohibition. They introduced it as part of the 1925 International Opium Convention and have remained in effect ever since.

Germany launched its medicinal cannabis program in 2017. It allows patients with certain medical conditions to obtain cannabis on prescription. The government limits the program to patients with serious illnesses such as multiple sclerosis, chronic pain and nausea resulting from chemotherapy.

Patients can get a prescription from a doctor and get the drug from a pharmacy. The government regulates the program heavily, with only a limited number of licensed producers able to supply the market.

If legalized for recreational use, German cannabis could earn €4.7 billion ($6.8 billion) annually, according to The Dales Report. The report quotes figures from the Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics.