Government ministers from Germany‘s conservative CDU and CSU parties on Wednesday called for changes to the 2024 partial legalization of cannabis introduced by the previous more left-leaning coalition government.
They made the call amid the publication of a two-year report on the effects of the new law.
What did conservative ministers say about the report?
Health Minister Nina Warken of the CDU called the move a mistake.
“Early interventions designed to dissuade children and young people from consumption are falling sharply in numbers,” Warken said, also complaining of a “blurry boundary between cannabis for recreational consumption and cannabis for purely medicinal purposes.”
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt from the Bavarian CSU called the legalization law “a complete nonstarter.” He said law enforcement’s concerns were not adequately considered. “The black market is booming, criminality is on the rise,” he alleged.
Family Minister Karin Prien of the CDU said that the number of children taking part in addiction prevention courses was falling because it was no longer as simple for authorities to demand that they attend.
What did the report say about cannabis usage
The report’s findings were more mixed than the conservative ministers’ appraisals but nevertheless did highlight a series of problems.
It found only a moderate increase in usage statistics since legalization, driven by the continuation of pre-existing trends: gradually falling consumption figures among young people, coupled with slowly rising figures among older adults.
“An increase in consumption that can be tied to the reform is not recognizable at this point in time,” the report, put together by researchers at Tübingen University, Düsseldorf’s university clinic and the Hamburg-Eppendorf university clinic, said.
It noted the reduction in early interventions among children highlighted by Health Minister Warken.
And it reported complaints from police about the difficulties the law has presented when trying to combat the existing illegal trafficking of cannabis.
Sharp increase in prescriptions, also for strong cannabis
If anything, the study pointed to rising consumption figures traceable in part to older laws to legalize medicinal marijuana, logging a sharp increase in demand (up around 198% since 2024) via pharmacies with doctors’ referrals.
Researchers criticized that medical marijuana with a high concentration of the plant’s primary psychoactive component THC was being prescribed more often than was necessary medically, saying this carried mental health and other medical risks.
The report warned that it was difficult to tell whether illegal groups were also involved in importing nominally medical marijuana and said there were indications that Germany could be becoming a distribution hub.
The report also suggested that only sluggish moves to approve so-called “cannabis clubs” permitting the purchase of recreational marijuana could explain the overprescribing of stronger strains.
To date, the report said, “only very few [cannabis] cultivation organizations have been approved,” and that these were unable to service demand.
“The only gradual reduction of the black market [for cannabis] could be accelerated via the strengthening of cultivation organizations,” it also said.
What is the legal status regarding medical and recreational cannabis in Germany?
Medical marijuana has been technically legal in Germany under certain conditions, primarily tied to the need for referral from a healthcare professional, since 2017. Access has gradually simplified and availability increased over time.
In April of 2024, the more wide-reaching law partially legalizing cannabis consumption for recreational purposes for adults was introduced.
It permits people over the age of 18 to possess up to 50 grams of cannabis at home, and to have up to 25 grams on their person when in public. It also permits people to grow up to two cannabis plants themselves. Minors are not permitted to carry or grow the plant.
However, simply selling to members of the public in “coffeeshops” akin to those made famous by the neighboring Netherlands is not permitted.
Instead, people who wish to acquire cannabis for recreational use and do not want to grow their own must sign up to a cannabis cultivation club, which charges membership fees and then grows the plant on a larger scale to distribute to members.
Via DW
