Germany legalizes cannabis for recreational use, top marks

Smoking cannabis in many public places in Germany will become legal on April 1.

Berlin: Germany on Friday joined the small group of countries and jurisdictions that have legalized the law hemp when the Bundestag passed a law allowing individuals and voluntary organizations to cultivate and possess the drug in limited quantities. The law passed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s ruling three-party coalition legalizes the cultivation of up to three plants for private consumption and the possession of up to 25 grams of vegetable fruit. hemp.

On a larger scale, but still non-commercial, hemp production will be allowed for members of so-called hemp clubs with no more than 500 members, all of whom must be adults. Only club members can consume their product.

“We have two goals: crack down on the black market and better protect children and young people,” Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said at the start of a boisterous debate in which the opposition accused him of promoting drug use.

“You seriously claim that by legalizing more drugs we will limit drug use among young people,” said Christian Democrat lawmaker Tino Sorge.

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

But Lauterbach said this was tantamount to “burying one’s head in the sand”: it wasn’t just that hemp Use soared among young people, whose developing brains were particularly threatened, but street drugs today were both stronger and more impure, vastly increasing the harm to them. It is estimated that approximately 4.5 million Germans use it hemp.

Germany becomes the ninth country to legalize recreational use of the drug, which is also legal in some subnational jurisdictions in the United States and Australia. Many more countries allow its medical use as a painkiller. Hemp remains illegal for minors, as does consuming it near schools and playgrounds.

Some lawmakers wondered whether the new regulations would have much impact on trade, as those unwilling to do so would have their own hemp or join one hemp club may still prefer to buy the drug.