Update: Cannabis decriminalisation will come on 01.04.2024

Good news for all those who have been longing for the decri­mi­na­li­sa­tion of cannabis for a long time: although nego­tia­tions in the traffic light coali­tion stalled this month, the SPD, FDP and Green parlia­men­tary groups were finally able to reach an agree­ment with the Federal Ministry of Health on some amend­ments to the planned Cannabis Act (CanG).

It is planned that the law will now be discussed by the Health Committee in mid-December and passed by the Bundestag in the same week.

The regu­la­tions on decri­mi­na­li­sa­tion are to come into force on 1 April 2024, while the regu­la­tions on the planned culti­va­tion asso­cia­tions (The decri­mi­na­liza­tion of cannabis – “Legal, but…”) will not come into force until July 2024.

The debate within the traffic light coali­tion resulted in some important inno­va­tions:

Firstly, the FDP and Greens were able to push through some rela­xa­tions to the law.

Firstly, the permitted amount of cannabis from home culti­va­tion has been raised to 50 grams, whereby the permitted weight should expli­citly relate to the dried quan­tity. As a result, the permitted amount of cannabis for posses­sion in public places is 25 grams and 50 grams at the place of resi­dence or habi­tual abode.

In addi­tion, posses­sors who slightly exceed the amount of permitted cannabis (up to 30 grams in public places and up to 60 grams at home) will no longer be liable to prose­cu­tion, but will only commit an admi­nis­tra­tive offence.

In line with the prin­ciple of propor­tio­na­lity, the range of fines has also been reduced from 30,000 euros to 100,000 euros to 10,000 euros to 30,000 euros.

The possi­bi­lity of public consump­tion has also been libe­ra­lised in order to reduce the burden on the police. Consu­mers no longer have to keep a distance of 200 metres from schools, kinder­gar­tens, play­grounds and growers’ asso­cia­tions; it is now suffi­cient to stay out of sight (regu­larly approx. 100 metres away).

The requi­re­ment of neigh­bourly conside­ra­tion for private cannabis culti­va­tion, which is speci­fi­cally stan­dar­dised in the Consumer Cannabis Act (KCanG), has been repealed. Possible disputes resul­ting from an odour nuisance must ther­e­fore be resolved using the exis­ting provi­sions of the Civil Code.

On the other hand, some tigh­tening of the law is also planned:

In parti­cular, the protec­tion of minors has been given even greater focus.

The inci­te­ment and aiding and abet­ting of minors by adults to culti­vate or purchase cannabis will in future be punis­hable by a prison sentence of three months to five years. With regard to the commer­cial supply of cannabis, the minimum prison sentence will be increased from one year to two years. Anyone who encou­rages young people or children to act in a gang-like manner or to use fire­arms or other dange­rous objects will also face at least two years in prison.

In this context, the Narco­tics Act (BtMG) has also been amended: in future, Section 30 I No. 5 BtMG will punish the inten­tional supply, admi­nis­tra­tion or transfer of narco­tics (i.e. not only cannabis) for direct consump­tion by adults to minors with at least two years’ impri­son­ment if the offender at least reck­lessly endan­gers the deve­lo­p­ment of the minor.

In addi­tion to these substan­tive tigh­tening of the law, the prose­cu­tion autho­ri­ties will also gain far-reaching inves­ti­ga­tive powers, which are to be included in Sections 100a, 100b, 100j, 104 para. 2, 112a para. 1 and 443 para. 1 of the Code of Criminal Proce­dure.

At the request of the Federal Council, covert inves­ti­ga­tive measures may be taken in the case of serious cannabis-related offences.

In addi­tion, in certain cases of serious cannabis offences, there is a risk of reci­di­vism, meaning that the accused can be ordered to be remanded in custody.

The seizure of assets and the search of premises at night will also be autho­rised by law in some constel­la­tions.

Last but not least, a working group is to propose a THC limit value for driving motor vehicles in road traffic by 31 March 2024, which is then to be laid down by the legis­lator in the Driving Licence Ordi­nance.

It is still unclear how to proceed with the planned project on the produc­tion, distri­bu­tion and sale of cannabis products in licensed specia­list shops (The decri­mi­na­liza­tion of cannabis – “Legal, but…”) Origi­nally, a draft was to be available by the end of the year — but so far not even a corre­spon­ding key issues paper has been presented.

The imple­men­ta­tion of this part of cannabis lega­li­sa­tion will ther­e­fore most likely be post­poned well into 2024.

NEWS 05.12.2023: NO CANNABIS DECISION IN 2023

The adop­tion of the decri­mi­na­li­sa­tion of cannabis planned for this month was prevented by the SPD.

The final reso­lu­tion on the Cannabis Act planned for the last sitting week of the year will not take place because the SPD parlia­men­tary group has expressed reser­va­tions about its imple­men­ta­tion, accor­ding to Dirk Heiden­blut (MP), the health poli­ti­cian respon­sible for cannabis in the SPD parlia­men­tary group.

The reasons for the SPD parlia­men­tary group’s concerns are not yet known.

It remains to be seen whether the law will come into force on 1 April 2024 as planned — this would require a reso­lu­tion to be passed in February 2024 at the latest.