Karl Lauterbach plans cannabis legalisation light
The Minister of Health wants to legalise weed in model regions in the future. A flagship project of the government coalition would thus fall far short of its promises
Friday, March 31, 2023
The German Minister of Health has given up the plan to have cannabis legalization as a whole approved by the EU. He is now pursuing a dual strategy: he only wants to submit part of the reforms to the Commission, while the other part is to be implemented solely on the basis of German law (and is allowed under EU legislation). In a first step, cannabis will only be available in certain pilot regions in certified shops. These could be large cities such as Cologne, Frankfurt, Berlin, Hamburg or Munich, but rural areas are also being considered in order to test the effects of legal sales under different conditions. The second part of the plan does not need the approval of the EU: decriminalizing posession (20/30 grammes), home growing and allowing cannabis social clubs. (See also: Germany will move forward with scaled-back marijuana reform plan amid EU review)
