« These non-profit associations will be able to sell to their members a maximum of 25 grams per day and no more than 50 grams per month. »*
Georg Wurth, representative of the German hemp federation
After Malta in 2021 and Luxembourg last year, Germany on Monday became the largest EU country to legalize the recreational use of cannabis, with a reform that raises as many expectations as fears, reports RTS.*
At midnight, the time of the first “legal” joints, several hundred people celebrated the change in law in plumes of smoke in front of the emblematic Brandenburg Gate, in the heart of Berlin. Possession of 25 grams of dried cannabis is now authorized in public places, as well as cultivation at home, up to 50 g and three plants per adult.*
A different approach from that of the Netherlands, where the consumption of hashish is not legal but tolerated, in particular through “coffeeshops”. Paradoxically, you will have to wait another three months in Germany to legally buy drugs via a “Cannabis Social Club”.*
Maximum of 25 grams per day*
Hence the warning in the meantime from Georg Wurth, representative of the German hemp federation: despite legalization “the consumer must not tell the policeman where he bought his cannabis” in the event of a control in the Street.*
“Because from April 1 we can in principle only obtain drugs illegally,” he said in an interview with AFP. The situation will really change on July 1 with the clubs. These non-profit associations will be able to sell to their members a maximum of 25 grams per day and no more than 50 grams per month.*
Shared cannabis gardens*
These clubs, a sort of shared cannabis garden, will be able to cultivate the drug on land outside, in a greenhouse, in an uninhabited building. Controlled at least once a year by the authorities, each association will be able to accommodate, in return for a contribution, a maximum of 500 people who have been residing in Germany for at least 6 months.*
According to the government, the new legislation, ardently desired by environmentalists and liberals in the coalition of Social Democratic Chancellor Olaf Scholz, should make it possible to fight more effectively against trafficking. Believing that the policy of prohibition has failed, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach regularly argues that countries like Canada, which have implemented legalization, have been able to reduce the black market.*
But many medical associations fear an increase in consumption, particularly among young people. Up to the age of 25, cannabis consumption carries increased risks for the brain which is still forming, according to experts, who point out in particular the danger of developing psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia.*
Prohibited under 18*
For Katja Seidel, specialist in addiction prevention at the Tannenhof Center in Berlin, the new law is “a catastrophe”. The German Minister of Health has promised increased means to educate young people about the dangers of cannabis, without announcing precise amounts.*
The authorities argue that cannabis remains prohibited for those under 18. Its consumption is also within a radius of 100 meters around schools, nurseries, playgrounds. The police are also up in arms against what they consider a “bureaucratic monster with a lot of piecemeal regulations”, according to the president of the branch union (DPolG), Rainer Wendt.*
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*** ndlr. : –.
