Germany’s Health Minister has provided a draft law that outlines how cannabis will be regulated in the country. The strictness of the proposed new law, that has been leaked to the German Press Agency, has baffled many.
As recently as March of this year the progress for legalising cannabis in Germany was looking positive with the prospect of legal cannabis looking to be mere weeks or months away from happening.
However, a roadblock was hit when the European Union regulators voiced their concern over the proposed laws. This sent the German government back to the drawing board and their newest proposed laws are certainly not what was initially offered.
How strict are Germany’s cannabis laws
One key element of Germany’s new cannabis laws is regarding the “Cannabis Social Clubs” (CSC). These were pitched to prevent cannabis tourism becoming a problem in the nation.
The new laws highlight how strictly these clubs will be regulated. Growing, dispensing and membership of the club will be monitored closely. Members will not be allowed to smoke on the premises nor within 250 metres of the club.
Only members of a club will be able to purchase cannabis, but membership of each club will be limited to 500 members. Citizens will only be able to be a member of one club at a time.
Those aged 18-21 will only be able to purchase cannabis that has a maximum THC content of 10%. They can also only purchase 30 grams per month.
Those older than 21 are allowed to purchase a maximum of 50 grams per month.
Each cannabis club will be required to report to the authorities a variety of stats each year.
They will be required to provide information on how much cannabis they produced, how much they sold, how potent it was, how much was sold to each member and how much was destroyed.
Cannabis sales via pharmacies, which was originally in the plan, has been limited to trials. If the trials are successful, the government will consider rolling this out further.
The draft of Germany’s new cannabis laws and the strictness of them have led to many wondering whether legal cannabis will be able to survive. The regulation surrounding the social clubs likely means that opening and maintaining one will prove to be very difficult.
People that choose not to become members of social clubs but still grow or smoke cannabis will also be viewed as criminals.
With the bar being set so high for legal cannabis under Germany’s proposed law, it remains likely that an illegal black market will continue to thrive in the nation.
