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German lawmakers have voted to legalise consumption and possession of cannabis, but stopped short of turning the country into the world’s largest regulated market for the drug by licensing its wholesale cultivation and retail.
Under the new rules approved on Friday, adults will be permitted to publicly use and carry up to 25 grammes of cannabis in Germany from April 1, one of the flagship social reforms of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s centre-left coalition government.
More than a year in the making, the law — which will make Germany the most tolerant country in Europe for recreational use of cannabis — continues to be dogged by controversy, with opposition lawmakers vowing to challenge it in court and slow its implementation.
Even in the Netherlands — regarded by many as being particularly relaxed in its approach — the possession of more than 5g is still a criminal offence and public consumption in designated cafés is tolerated, but not legal.
Among developed economies, only the law in Canada, where individuals can possess up to 30g of cannabis, and buy it from licensed retailers, is more liberal. In the US, cannabis is still classified as an illegal “schedule 1” drug by the federal government, but 24 states have now allowed its use for recreational purposes.
“The legal situation cannot stay as it is, it is in no sense acceptable,” said health minister Karl Lauterbach in a fractious session of the Bundestag to pass the new rules in Germany, drawing sharp criticism from conservative and far-right lawmakers.
Lauterbach said legalising consumption was a common sense response, given that 4.5mn Germans were already regular users of the drug and existing laws criminalising it were obsolete. He said that in the past 10 years, the number of people aged 18-25 consuming marijuana had increased 100 per cent.
The new law will undercut a dangerous criminal market, bring more educational resources to bear and increase criminal penalties for those selling cannabis to people under the age of 18, the health minister said.
The backlash against the law, however, has prompted a watering down of the original proposal.
In a concession criticised by pro-legalisation groups and commercial cannabis producers, the government shelved plans for the widespread licensed sale of cannabis in public shops. Such a measure may be revisited in the future — though no timetable has been given by the health ministry.
A 2021 study by the Heinrich Heine university of Düsseldorf, commissioned by the German Hemp Association, a pro-legalisation group, concluded that the German government could make up to €3.4bn annually in additional tax revenues if it licensed and charged duty on the sale of cannabis.
The law passed on Friday stipulates that cannabis can be grown at home for personal use — up to three plants are permitted — and from July 1 also by “clubs” of up to 500 people.
Clubs may charge membership fees but will not be permitted to sell cannabis itself to their members, and may only give a maximum of 50g of cannabis to their members monthly. Excess production has to be destroyed.
Consuming cannabis in public will be allowed but not in the proximity of schools or sports facilities and never in the company of minors.
A YouGov poll this week revealed a still sceptical German public: 47 per cent of those surveyed said they disagreed with legalising the drug, 42 per cent said they were in favour, and another 11 per cent were undecided.
“The child and youth protection measures in [the] law are nothing more than mere lip service,” said Simone Borchardt, a Christian Democrat (CDU) MP who sits on the parliamentary health committee. “The police are unprepared and the interior ministers of all the federal states have spoken out against this law . . . but still [the government] prefers to do what it wants anyway.”
The government of Bavaria, controlled by the Christian Social Union, the sister party of the CDU, said it was already looking for avenues to legally challenge the law.
“Bavaria is determined to combat the dangerous consumption of cannabis should the law come into force,” said the state’s health minister, Judith Gerlach, on Friday morning.
Before entering into force, the legislation will be sent to Germany’s second parliamentary chamber for review, which could further delay its implementation.
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