The Bundesrat, the upper house of the German parliament, approved this Friday a partial legalization of cannabis that allows the possession of limited quantities and cultivation for own consumption in private homes.
The law, which had previously been approved by the Bundestag (lower house), allows the possession of up to 25 grams in public spaces and up to 50 grams in the private home, as well as the cultivation of up to three plants for personal consumption.
After approval by the Bundesrat, the law may enter into force on the 1st. April, after it is ratified by President Frank Walter Steinmeier.
For minors, the possession and consumption of cannabis will continue to be prohibited and consumption will also be prohibited in the surroundings of schools and daycare centers, as well as in pedestrian areas before 8 pm local time.
The sale and purchase of cannabis will continue to be prohibited, but consumers who do not want to have plants in their own residence will be able to organize into non-profit cultivation associations of up to 500 members.
Cannabis consumers in Germany.
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Minors may not be members of these associations and adults may only be members of an association and must actively participate in cultivation. Membership in an association only as a consumer is not contemplated.
The law was an initiative of the Minister of Health, Karl Lauterbach, who celebrated the approval by the Bundesrat and expressed through his X account his hope that legalization will be “the beginning of the end of the black market.”
The fight against the black market through legalization had been one of Lauterbach's central arguments in the debates prior to the approval of the law.
According to Lauterbach, where there has been smart legalization, such as in several US states, the black market has been hit.
Lauterbach believes that legalization opens up possibilities to protect future generations from crime, the black market and, through education, also from consumption.
Lauterbach himself admitted that he had long been an enemy of legalization, but that new data had led him to change his mind.
The approval by the Bundesrat was in doubt until the last moment because several federal states – in which there are governments chaired by the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Bavaria where the Christian Social Union (CSU) governs – had expressed their opposition to the rule.
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The prime ministers of Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, both eastern German states, Reiner Haseloff and Michael Kretschmer, had been among the project's main opponents.
Kretschmer had warned that Cannabis could be the gateway that leads many users to stronger drugs. Haseloff said the new law could even lead to more deaths, both from consumption itself and from traffic accidents related to it.
EFE
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