Germany’s parliament has officially approved a bill to legalize marijuana nationwide.
Two days after the cannabis legislation was considered by eight committees of the Bundestag, the full body voted 407-226 on final passage on Friday.
The bill—which will make possession and home cultivation legal and authorize social clubs that can distribute marijuana to members—now heads to the Bundesrat, a separate legislative chamber that represents German states, though its members cannot stop the reform from being enacted.
While supporters have said legalization would take effect in April if it’s enacted, there are new questions about that timeline. The Bundesrat may move to refer the legislation to a mediation committee to address criminal justice-related implications of the law, which could mean several months of additional discussion.
The floor vote comes weeks after leaders of Germany’s so-called traffic light coalition government announced that they’d reached a final agreement on the legalization bill, resolving outstanding concerns, primarily from the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, who has for months been the government’s lead on the cannabis plan, said ahead of the floor vote that the country is “fundamentally changing our cannabis control policy in order to combat the black market.”
Hier meine Rede für die Legalisierung #Cannabis. Die bisherige Verbotspolitik ist gescheitert. Mehr konsumierende Kinder, mehr Schwarzmarkt, toxische Cannabisprodukte, steigende Kriminalität. So geht es nicht weiter. Aufklärung statt Verbote, ohne Schwarzmarkt sind bessere Lösung https://t.co/E1I0bKuxR7
— Prof. Karl Lauterbach (@Karl_Lauterbach) February 23, 2024
“The second goal is better protection for children and young people,” he said, pointing to high youth use rates under the current law and saying that the legalization proposal is an “urgently needed modernization of our cannabis policy.”
Kirsten Kappert-Gonthe of the Green Party called the current system of criminalization “absurd,” saying that prohibition has created a situation where “children and young people in our country can easily get cannabis on every corner” due to the lack of regulations that the legal market, in contrast, will institute.
Ein großer Erfolg!
Das #CanG wurde im Bundestag verabschiedet.
Wir beenden Prohibition und #Kriminalisierung und machen den Weg frei für Jugend-und Gesundheitsschutz.
Nach diesem langen Prozess freue ich mich sehr über das Erreichte und danke allen für ihren Einsatz.🥦— Kirsten Kappert-Gonther (@KirstenKappert) February 23, 2024
Kristine Lütke, a lawmaker with the Free Democratic Party (FDP), said legalization “strengthens individual freedom in Germany.”
“Today a chapter comes to an end and a new one begins,” she said. “We are talking about a historical turning point. We are voting for a paradigm shift in German cannabis policy.”
Wir sorgen für mehr Kinder-, Jugend- und Gesundheitsschutz + schaffen eine erhebliche Verbesserung bei Medizinalcannabis. Die Justiz wird erheblich entlastet und wir verbessern die Prävention.
— Kristine Lütke MdB (@kristine_lutke) February 23, 2024
Under legalization, “consumers know where the cannabis comes from, how much they have, how much it contains and know that it is not mixed with substances that are harmful to health—much more dangerous drugs,” Lütke said.
Members of the center-right CDU/CSU alliance strongly opposed the reform. Lawmaker Simone Bourchardt, for example, argued that legalization “would be an additional burden” on the country’s “strained health system,” pointing to marijuana’s “impairment of cognitive abilities.”
Ahead of the final vote, lawmakers rejected opposition motions to block legalization from CDU/CSU and Alternative for Germany.
Germans support legalization, but only by a narrow margin, according to a new poll. Forty-seven percent back the reform,…
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