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Germany unveils plans to legalise cannabis

Move would create the world’s largest regulated national market for the drug

https://www.ft.com/content/ac495141-4270-454f-a5aa-53a9f2152baf

The German government has unveiled a detailed framework for the legalisation of cannabis, setting the country on course to becoming the world’s largest regulated national market for the drug.

“Drug policy has to be updated,” said health minister Karl Lauterbach on Wednesday, citing unchecked rising consumption of cannabis among young adults, and an increasing threat to public health from impure and high-strength products as reasons behind the proposed change.

Before becoming law, the proposals will face an extensive legal consultation with European neighbours and will then will be put in front of German lawmakers in the Bundestag.

Lauterbach said while the package could be seen as “the most liberal cannabis legalisation project in Europe”, its purpose was to increase, not decrease, public oversight. The proposals would create “the most strictly regulated [cannabis] market in Europe, with the clear objective of decriminalisation and improving protections for young people and public health,” he said.

The German government’s proposals follow the decision by US president Joe Biden to pardon thousands of Americans convicted of possessing the drug. “Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana,” Biden said earlier this month in a move seen by many as a prelude to a liberalisation of US law.

Around 4mn Germans took illegal cannabis products last year, and a quarter of all 18-24 year olds, according to the ministry of health.

Berlin’s planned liberalisation will not be straightforward. Germany, as a member of Europe’s border-check free Schengen Zone, will need to overcome what are likely to be strong objections from fellow EU states.

Regulations prohibit the import of illegal drugs over European borders, meaning the country will have to prove it can tightly monitor border crossings and not undermine its neighbours’ own narcotics policies.

Negotiations to find a consensus among Schengen member states are meanwhile unlikely to be a high diplomatic priority, given Europe’s current geopolitical agenda.