Germany’s Path to Legalise Weed
By: Louisa Pötschke
Germany tries tackling drug abuse among young people with legalisation. From April 1st 2024, cannabis will become partially legal for those 18 years and above as a reaction to the rising numbers of consumers in recent years and the flourishing of the black market.
Photo by Michael Fisher from Pexels
Adults are allowed to carry and consume 25 grams in public between 8pm and 7am and can store 50 grams for personal consumption at home. In accordance with the new policy, the government wants to implement clubs where members can grow weed plants together for non-commercial purposes from July 1st onwards.
The hope is by decriminalising cannabis it will be possible to “push back the black market significantly, protect children and teens better, and to offer older consumers a safer product”, according to Karl Lauterbach, Secretary of State for Health. Shielding young people from the harmful impacts of cannabis is the government’s utmost priority, and they want to start a preventive and informative campaign targeting children and teenagers to educate them on the dangers of the drug.
Despite the general positive attitude towards the law, there comes criticism from the government and medical professionals. “Cannabis is a substance which has the potential of addiction, around ten percent of (frequent) users of the drug have an addiction”, warns Klaus Reinhardt, president of the doctor’s association in an interview with the German broadcasting service WDR. As the human brain is only fully developed around the age of 25, consuming substances like cannabis frequently can cause irreparable damage to parts of the brain that are relevant for learning processes, such as the saving of information and accessing your memory.
The new law is supposed to gradually lead to commercialisation within Germany. However, this plan will only be implemented if the testing phase combats the black market and brings the expected results regarding health and child protection. Therefore, it is uncertain if cannabis import policies throughout the EU would be a possibility in the future, although other countries like the Czech Republic want to legalise cannabis until 2025.
Whether this might be in the future for Scotland too is unclear, even though Scotland has the highest rate of drug-related deaths in the UK and Europe. However, Scotland does not ignore the problem but rather tries a different approach to solving the issue than its European neighbours. The diversion policy aims to decriminalise drug abusers when caught committing minor offences. It opens the path to a voluntary recovery rather than jail, as people are offered support in the forms of treatments or education and more.
Whatever the outcome of either of these policies, it is evident that drug abuse is an important topic concerning all of Europe. Only time can tell what the best solution might be.
