Germany unveils plan to liberalize cannabis

Germany’s health minister has unveiled a plan to legalize possession of up to 30 grams (about 1 ounce) of marijuana and allow it to be sold to adults for recreational purposes on a controlled market.

Karl Lauterbach said Berlin would check with the European Commission whether plans approved by the German government comply with EU law, and would move to legislation only after approval.

He said the new rules could “set an example for Europe” but “in reality, they will not come into force until 2024”.

The plan requires marijuana to be grown with a license and sold to adults in licensed stores in a bid to crack down on the black market. Individuals will be allowed to grow up to three plants and purchase or possess 20-30 grams of marijuana.

Mr Lauterbach said that if the legislation came into force, “on the one hand, it would be the most liberal cannabis liberalization in Europe, and on the other hand, it would also be the most regulated market”.

He said “better youth and health protection” was the main goal of the government’s proposal.

“It could be a model for Europe,” which tends to have a lot of restrictive laws, he said.

The minister himself has long been skeptical of marijuana legalization, arguing that the current system is not working, consumption is increasing and the illicit market is booming.

In Germany, which has a population of 83 million, 4 million people used cannabis last year, and a quarter of 18 to 24-year-olds did so, he said.

Mr Lauterbach said Germany did not want to follow the model long followed by Germany’s northwestern neighbour the Netherlands, which combines decriminalisation with little market regulation.

Mr Lauterbach said Germany would study whether it could be consumed where it was sold, but was not planning to allow it for now. The same goes for selling drugs in edible form.

Stores that sell marijuana are also not allowed to sell alcohol or tobacco products or be located near schools.

The health minister said the government does not intend to set prices, but does intend to set quality requirements.

He did not disclose whether there would be a “cannabis tax” above the standard sales tax that could be used to fund information about the risks of the drug, but said the product should not be too expensive to compete with marijuana. black market.

The cannabis program is one of a series of reforms outlined in a coalition agreement between the three social-liberal parties in Prime Minister Olaf Scholz’s government last year. They agreed at the time that the “social impact” of the new legislation would be reviewed in four years’ time.

In other liberalization plans, the government has removed a ban on doctors from “advertisement” of abortion services from Germany’s criminal code.

It also wants to ease the path to German citizenship, lift restrictions on dual citizenship and lower the minimum age to vote in national and European elections from 18 to 16.

The government also wants to repeal 40-year-old legislation that requires transgender people to undergo psychological assessments and court decisions before formally changing their gender, a process that often involves intimate issues. It will be replaced by the new “Self-Determination Law”.