Germany’s cabinet approves plan for ‘controlled legalisation’ of cannabis

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Germany’s cabinet has approved a plan for “controlled legalisation” of cannabis in a compromise that has upset anti-drug campaigners, pro-legalisation advocates, doctors, judges and the police.

Health minister Karl Lauterbach defended the legislation as a “good law” after the cabinet gave its blessing on Wednesday to a plan whose centrepiece is the creation of “cannabis clubs” that can grow and distribute marijuana to their members.

Lauterbach said the proposal, which must still be approved by the Bundestag, would balance combating drug crime and the rise of increasingly toxic variants on the black market with the need to protect children and young people.

He described it as “controlled legalisation” that marked “an important turning point in a cannabis drug policy that has, unfortunately, failed”.

The measures, due to come into force at the start of next year, represent a sea change in Germany’s drugs policy that could have far-reaching consequences for the rest of the continent. They come at a time when many European nations are closely following experiments with cannabis legalisation in the US and Canada as they grapple with their own approach.

Still, the German law falls far short of a high-profile promise in the 2021 coalition agreement struck by chancellor Olaf Scholz and his coalition partners to allow the “controlled supply of cannabis to adults for recreational purposes in licensed shops”, disappointing supporters of liberalisation and businesses hoping to cash in on a huge new market.

After the idea of a commercial model met resistance from the European Commission, Germany will instead allow the creation of associations that can produce and distribute to members under strict conditions.

Varying limits on the potency and quantity of the drug available to those aged 18 and the over-21s are aimed at limiting the potential damage to young people, who can suffer changes in brain development as a result of cannabis use, as well as an increased risk of psychosis. 

Adults will be able to purchase up to 50g of cannabis a month from the clubs for personal consumption, and will be allowed to cultivate up to three plants at home.

In a second phase, Germany will experiment with allowing limited commercial sales in certain pilot regions.

Lauterbach, a member of Scholz’s Social Democratic (SPD) party has faced sharp criticism over the law from his coalition partners and some professional and medical associations.

The liberal Free Democrats (FDP), which are in government with the SPD and the Greens, have described the 161-page draft law as a “bureaucratic monster” and criticised the upper limits on consumption and possession.

Police and judges have voiced concern about the increased workload they will face as the result of the rules, such as a requirement that no cannabis be consumed within 200 metres of a school, day care centre or playground. “I do hope the federal ministry of health does not think our colleagues will use a folding rule to measure the required 200m distance between a consumer and a nursery,” said Alexander Poitz, deputy chair of the GdP police association, last month.

At the same time, the opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) have claimed the law will result in a “complete loss of control” over drugs, while doctors and pharmacists have expressed anxiety that the reforms will further increase cannabis use and associated health problems among the young.

Lauterbach, a trained doctor who stressed the “very dangerous” impact of cannabis on young people in particular, has promised that a new youth information campaign will accompany the legislation.

Germany’s shift comes as the Czech Republic considers whether to allow cannabis users to cultivate the plant for personal consumption — a change that Luxembourg adopted in June. Malta in 2021 passed a law allowing citizens to possess and grow small amounts of marijuana, while Switzerland in March approved plans to legalise the consumption and sale of cannabis in Zurich as part of a trial project.

The Netherlands, long seen as having the EU’s most liberal drugs policy, has sought to curb drugs tourism while planning to launch pilot schemes to test legalising the sale of the drug — which is still technically criminalised.