It looks like Germany could be ready to charge ahead with their plans for recreational cannabis legalisation following ‘very good feedback’ from the EU. But will it be good news for all? Let’s take a look…
We previously reported that Germany had announced plans to pursue legalisation, however one of the key hurdles they would have to overcome was gaining the approval of the European Union. Numerous German lawyers had pointed out that the draft legislation potentially violated EU and UN law, and so the future of the bill was unclear.
However, German Health Minister, Karl Lauterbach, has expressed confidence that the country’s plans might soon be able to overcome this hurdle, so much so that he announced that the revised legalisation bill would be presented “in the next few weeks”.
But will there be changes to the original bill?
There’s no doubt that that positive feedback from the EU will signal that Germany can take the next step on their journey to legalisation. However, there is some concern that the revised bill could differ from the original plans.
In relation to the revised bill, Lauterbach said:
“We will soon present a proposal that works, that is, that complies with European legislation”.
In doing so, the coalition aims to “comply with European legislation while maintaining their own objectives,”, those objectives being to reduce crime and make cannabis use safer.
The health minister is yet to specify what the revisions to the bill will look like, however it seems most likely that the official legislation would be a less liberal version of the original ‘Eckpunkte’ paper released in October 2022.
We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for the presentation of the revised bill and providing further commentary as the story unfolds.
For more context, watch Paul North, Director of Volteface and guest Alastair Moore of The Hanway Company discuss the announcement 3 months ago on Volteface TV: