5 ms·

This will be a disaster. Not for the usual drugs-are-bad-hmkay reasons but because the bill is completely weird, rife with stupid ideas that just won't work or

This will be a disaster. Not for the usual drugs-are-bad-hmkay reasons but because the bill is completely weird, rife with stupid ideas that just won't work or create new problems. First, there is no simple way to get cannabis. You cannot just go into any shop, only a select few cities or regions will be allowed to have shops, and that is only for a limited "evaluation period". I predict that after this evaluation period, there just won't be anymore shops. You could participate in a cannabis growing club that is intended as a communal kind of homegrowing, but there are very strange regulations around that such as "at least 200m from any school/kindergarten". Because maybe kids only sneak into greenhouses that are within 200m of their school? Which leaves homegrowing, but the security requirements for the fentanyl in my medicine cabinet are less than for my future potted plants. So they decriminalized cannabis but gave the police reason to snoop around in homes and just fine the same people for different "crimes", such as insufficiently armored windows in front of their indoor garden. Then, the law will conflict with EU laws. But the government didn't even try to change EU laws, they are just waiting to maybe be sued by the commission. Which will then end in the law being invalidated by the EU courts. They also added taxation, with the argument that this will generate income to offset the supposed health problems that legalization would create. However, since the only viable thing is to homegrow, which isn't taxed (yet), tax income will be minimal and just add to the overall tax bureaucracy, maybe even resulting in a net negative income for the state. There were ideas of creating a cannabis industry, similar to what California did. However, since there won't be many shops, requirements around security are extreme and customers are driven to homegrow, there won't be any industry to speak of. Maybe just a little to illegally (because trade is forbidden there, as is exporting from Germany) supply the Netherlands and other neighboring countries. Since there won't be any scale and costs will be high, illegal cannabis will still be cheaper overall. I personally suspect that this law is set up to fail by the people writing it. E.g. the minister of health, Lauterbach, was never a fan of the idea (to say it mildly), yet was forced to write this law since it fell into the realm of his ministry. Others in the coalition, especially in the SPD, are of a similar opinion and only go along because their other partners, FDP and greens, demanded legalization. When the next government in 2 years is a SPD/CDU coalition (current polls look that way, would be a repeat of most of the Merkel governments), this law will, after "thorough evaluation of the results", be abolished again.

bsimpson 3y ago
As I'm neither European nor a smoker, can you explain how this is in conflict with the EU? I know Holland has "coffee shops" and Portugal has decriminalized all drugs, so I'm guessing the problem is in the German implementation details.
- c4mpute 3y ago
  Portugal and Holland have decriminalized consumption and associated posession, but nothing else. Sales there are already in a legal gray area, e.g. because the Netherlands do not allow production or trade, so all the places selling cannabis there have to get their product illegally. Sales in coffeeshops are actually illegal, but not punishable, if done following certain rules. I don't know the details about Portugal, but in the Netherlands, Cannabis is still an illegal drug overall, just with the aforementioned plus medical exceptions. But even that is against EU laws, there just hasn't been any action from the EU comission to enforce that yet. So the hope for Germany is that maybe the comission will continue to look away even for a wider decriminalization.
sva_ 3y ago
You forgot the part that even if you homegrow, you're only allowed to own 25 grams of Cannabis, while being allowed to grow three plants. Someone told me anyone can grow more than 25 grams out of a single plant.
- nebalee 3y ago
  You are allowed to own 25g in addition to 3 plants. They are very much aware that the ungarnered yield and the plant itself likely puts you over the 25g limit as this is explicitly mentioned in the elaborative part of the draft document. You are supposed to gradually harvest from the plants what you intend to consume, just keep the amount of produce at hand below 25g. (I don't know how sensible that is, I have no experience growing cannabis.) My suggestion is if you happen to exceed the 25g you can always simply destroy the excess.
nebalee 3y ago
Half of your points are not part of the current draft. The dispensaries from last years key issues paper are not even pursued anymore beyond the evaluation region concept in the "2-column-model" ever since the EU commission gave feedback on it. That also made the question of taxation moot for now. Contrary to popular believe Germany cannot just change EU laws. With only a handful of countries in the EU making efforts to get any decriminalization going in their own countries a change to the EU's drug policy is not gonna happen. The majority of member states are just not interested, there's no wide support for the issue in Brussels. Is the 200m vicinity rule stupid? Maybe, but it has precedent. Malta has the same rule in their respective law it enacted at the end of 2021, only it's 50m further. Malta is also the only EU-country that even has legislation regarding Cannabis Social / Growing Clubs. The clubs in other EU-countries (Spain and Belgium?) all operate in legal grey areas. The security requirements for homegrowing are not strict at all. All you need is a lock ('mechanische oder elektronische Verriegelungsvorrichtungen'). If you grow in a greenhouse outside of your living space it needs a lock. If you grow inside you living space I suppose there are locks already present. If there are kids around or other people that should not have access, lock the room, obviously. Keep your produce in a lockable container. That's it. Sensible stuff. Maybe you should actually read the current draft: https://www.bundesgesundheitsministerium.de/presse/pressemitteilungen/bundeskabinett-beschliesst-cannabisgesetz-pm-16-08-23.html https://www.bundesgesundheitsministerium.de/presse/pressemit... (pdf at bottom of the page; don't skip the 'Besondere Teil'). The idea that Lauterbach was never a fan of the idea is simply wrong. He publicly expressed support for the idea during the coalition negotiations. The suggestion that the SPD (or any of the other Ampel parties, for that matter) in a potential upcoming coalition with the CDU would repeal the very law they just enacted in the former coalition is utter nonsense.

bsimpson 3y ago

As I'm neither European nor a smoker, can you explain how this is in conflict with the EU? I know Holland has "coffee shops" and Portugal has decriminalized all drugs, so I'm guessing the problem is in the German implementation details.

c4mpute 3y ago
Portugal and Holland have decriminalized consumption and associated posession, but nothing else. Sales there are already in a legal gray area, e.g. because the Netherlands do not allow production or trade, so all the places selling cannabis there have to get their product illegally. Sales in coffeeshops are actually illegal, but not punishable, if done following certain rules. I don't know the details about Portugal, but in the Netherlands, Cannabis is still an illegal drug overall, just with the aforementioned plus medical exceptions. But even that is against EU laws, there just hasn't been any action from the EU comission to enforce that yet. So the hope for Germany is that maybe the comission will continue to look away even for a wider decriminalization.

sva_ 3y ago

You forgot the part that even if you homegrow, you're only allowed to own 25 grams of Cannabis, while being allowed to grow three plants. Someone told me anyone can grow more than 25 grams out of a single plant.

nebalee 3y ago
You are allowed to own 25g in addition to 3 plants. They are very much aware that the ungarnered yield and the plant itself likely puts you over the 25g limit as this is explicitly mentioned in the elaborative part of the draft document. You are supposed to gradually harvest from the plants what you intend to consume, just keep the amount of produce at hand below 25g. (I don't know how sensible that is, I have no experience growing cannabis.) My suggestion is if you happen to exceed the 25g you can always simply destroy the excess.

nebalee 3y ago

Half of your points are not part of the current draft. The dispensaries from last years key issues paper are not even pursued anymore beyond the evaluation region concept in the "2-column-model" ever since the EU commission gave feedback on it. That also made the question of taxation moot for now. Contrary to popular believe Germany cannot just change EU laws. With only a handful of countries in the EU making efforts to get any decriminalization going in their own countries a change to the EU's drug policy is not gonna happen. The majority of member states are just not interested, there's no wide support for the issue in Brussels. Is the 200m vicinity rule stupid? Maybe, but it has precedent. Malta has the same rule in their respective law it enacted at the end of 2021, only it's 50m further. Malta is also the only EU-country that even has legislation regarding Cannabis Social / Growing Clubs. The clubs in other EU-countries (Spain and Belgium?) all operate in legal grey areas. The security requirements for homegrowing are not strict at all. All you need is a lock ('mechanische oder elektronische Verriegelungsvorrichtungen'). If you grow in a greenhouse outside of your living space it needs a lock. If you grow inside you living space I suppose there are locks already present. If there are kids around or other people that should not have access, lock the room, obviously. Keep your produce in a lockable container. That's it. Sensible stuff. Maybe you should actually read the current draft: https://www.bundesgesundheitsministerium.de/presse/pressemitteilungen/bundeskabinett-beschliesst-cannabisgesetz-pm-16-08-23.html https://www.bundesgesundheitsministerium.de/presse/pressemit... (pdf at bottom of the page; don't skip the 'Besondere Teil'). The idea that Lauterbach was never a fan of the idea is simply wrong. He publicly expressed support for the idea during the coalition negotiations. The suggestion that the SPD (or any of the other Ampel parties, for that matter) in a potential upcoming coalition with the CDU would repeal the very law they just enacted in the former coalition is utter nonsense.