Entkriminalisierung von Cannabis

The decriminalization of cannabis — “Legal, but…”

After years of poli­tical and social debate, the time has now come: Cannabis decri­mi­na­liza­tion has picked up speed with the traffic light govern­ment. On 16.08.2023, the federal cabinet approved the first draft bill for a corre­spon­ding law (so-called “Cannabis Consump­tion Act” — CanG). It is to come into force on 01.01.2024.

The back­ground to the inno­va­tion are nume­rous diffi­cul­ties in dealing with cannabis in the judi­ciary, society and the health­care system:

Deve­lo­p­ments in recent years prove that the previous legal prohi­bi­tions have not been able to limit cannabis consump­tion — rather, the oppo­site is the case. The cannabis products that are purchased on the black market also pose incal­culable health risks for consu­mers due to their unknown THC content and the large number of exten­ders used.

In addi­tion, the already over­bur­dened judi­ciary is almost over­whelmed with the mass of cannabis-related crimes and can hardly punish the viola­tions successfully. Espe­ci­ally when court dates are held for posses­sion of the smal­lest amounts of cannabis, the ques­tion of appro­priate propor­tio­na­lity arises.

The fact that this prose­cu­tion prac­tice costs the state immense amounts of taxpayers’ money, which could undoub­tedly be used in many other ways, is just another aspect of the problem complex.

The Federal Ministry of Health would like to contri­bute to improved health protec­tion by moni­to­ring and ensu­ring the quality of the narcotic through controlled hand­ling of cannabis.

Further­more, the illegal trade in cannabis products is to be curbed, the corre­spon­ding educa­tion and preven­tion streng­thened, and the protec­tion of children and young people imple­mented more effec­tively.

To this end, various infor­ma­tion, coun­seling and preven­tion services are planned; parti­ci­pa­tion in so-called early inter­ven­tion programs is to be estab­lished for children and young people at risk.

In addi­tion, the posses­sion and consump­tion of cannabis remains prohi­bited for persons under the age of 18. The same applies to adver­ti­sing or spon­sor­ship as well as public consump­tion in certain speci­fied loca­tions.

But what does decri­mi­na­liza­tion actually entail?

The posses­sion of 25 grams of cannabis is to become exempt from punish­ment for adult private indi­vi­duals. In addi­tion, indi­vi­duals who have had criminal convic­tions in connec­tion with cannabis in the past will be able to apply to have those convic­tions expunged from the Federal Central Register.

On the one hand, the bill provides for the possi­bi­lity of coll­ec­tive self-culti­va­tion and non-commer­cial distri­bu­tion of cannabis in culti­va­tion asso­cia­tions, so-called “cannabis clubs,” provided that they can present the required offi­cial permit and comply with legally defined protec­tion, docu­men­ta­tion, and reporting obli­ga­tions.

Accor­ding to the draft law, the acti­vity of these cannabis clubs is to be regu­larly controlled by the autho­ri­ties and may only include cannabis products in pure form (mari­juana or hashish).

At the same time, private culti­va­tion of cannabis products will also be allowed within certain limits and obser­vance of protec­tive measures.

However, with the passing of the Cannabis Consump­tion Act, lega­liza­tion as a legal process is not yet complete.

The federal govern­ment plans to further expand the release of cannabis within the frame­work of another draft law. Thus, the produc­tion, distri­bu­tion and dispen­sing of cannabis products is to be made possible in licensed and state-controlled specia­lized stores. This project is to be limited in time and region and subject to scien­tific moni­to­ring.

Accor­ding to the Federal Ministry of Health, a corre­spon­ding draft should be available before the end of the year. Presu­mably, the corre­spon­ding regu­la­tion will only become law in the course of next year.

Before the Cannabis Consump­tion Act can come into force, it must pass both the Bundestag and the Bundesrat. In view of the massive criti­cism from the poli­tical oppo­si­tion, it is more than doubtful that the rest of the legis­la­tive process will run smoothly.

So it could well be that those who have been longing for cannabis lega­liza­tion will have to be patient a little longer.

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