Will Germany Legalize Recreational Cannabis in 2022? New push-in movement
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Germany is moving closer to legalizing recreational cannabis as the government tries to complete the process by the end of 2022, USNews reported.
Germany decriminalized medical cannabis in 2016, and in November 2021 the leaders of the new parties said they had a formal agreement to legalize marijuana.
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The Ministry of Health is now planning to start with five expert hearings on various aspects of the topic on Tuesday. The focus of the hearings, which will take place until the end of the month, will be how young people and consumers can best be protected, said drug czar Burkhard Blienert.
“Like many others, I have campaigned for years for us in Germany to finally end the criminalization of cannabis users and start a modern and health-oriented cannabis policy,” he said.
The state health agency announced on Monday that over 200 representatives from the medical, legal and other fields, as well as various government officials and international experts, will attend.
The push to legalize the sale of recreational marijuana in licensed stores is part of a series of reforms proposed last year in the coalition deal between three social-liberal parties in the government of Olaf Scholz, who took over from Angela Merkel in December .
There are also plans to examine the “social impact” of the new legislation after four years.
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The law is expected to be drafted in the second half of 2022, once hearings with experts are complete.
Germany’s health minister, SPD-affiliated Karl Lauterbach, said earlier that he wanted to put cannabis reform on the legislative agenda in the summer.
Quoted in German media, Lauterbach said he had “changed his mind on this in the last two years… I’ve always been opposed to legalizing cannabis, but I changed my mind about a year ago.”
This article originally appeared on Benzinga and has been republished with permission.
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