Germany: Minister of Health to move forward with legalizing adult cannabis use

German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach yesterday announced new measures on health care in Germany, which included the legalization of adult cannabis use in the country, according to the newspaper. Spiegel. Lauterbach told the handesblatt, who changed his mind about cannabis in the last two years. "I've always been an opponent of cannabis legalization, but I revised my opinion about a year ago." The Minister of Health now believes that the dangers of illegality outweigh the dangers of “recreational” reform.

Surprisingly, Lauterbach appears against the current, at a time when virtually all parties in the coalition wanted to postpone the discussion on the legalization of cannabis. Although legalization was highlighted in the electoral platform that put the coalition in power, for a long time there was an attempt to attack the taking of measures. But recently, the coalition's three partner parties have begun to publicly support the idea of ​​home cultivation as part of the initial reform law, in part in response to patients' difficulties in accessing medical cannabis.

According to Spiegel, the process for the controlled legalization of cannabis is expected to begin with several technical discussions between Federal Drug Commissioner Burkhard Blienert and national and international experts. “A draft law should follow in the second half of the year”, explained the Minister. The coalition wants to introduce a “controlled sale of adult cannabis for recreational purposes in licensed stores”, as stated in the coalition agreement.