Marijuana is likely to be legalised in Germany come January 1, 2024 but ministers in Bavaria are planning to obstruct access to the drug in the southern state even once the law has been enshrined.
Germany is poised to follow suit with the Netherlands and legalise marijuana at a nationwide level. But politicians in Bavaria, led by CSU minister Markus Söder, are hoping to do everything in their power to resist the change.
Speaking in Munich this week, Health Minister for the southern federal state, Klaus Holetschek, announced that the Bavarian government would set up a “central cannabis control unit” once legalisation has been enshrined.
According to the CSU minister the control unit will “curb the consumption of this dangerous drug and prevent it as far as possible”. “The plans of the Berlin traffic-light coalition threaten public health, and particularly the health of young people,” Holetscheck added. No further information was revealed about how Bavarian would run its control units.
How weed consumption impacts the health of young people, and in particular their brain development, has been a consistent concern through the legalisation process. In August German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach announced that the federal government would publish an extensive public health campaign in advance of legalisation, which will be designed to warn young people about the risks of underage cannabis consumption.
In its current form, the law will allow anyone over 18 will be able to buy and carry up to 30 grams of Genusscannabis (recreational cannabis) without facing any criminal punishment by the police.
Holetscheck’s announcement came a few days before the German Bundesrat was scheduled to discuss the current draft of the cannabis legalisation bill in its first sitting after the break for summer.
Now that the Bundesrat has met and made comments on the draft law, it will be returned to the Bundestag for tweaks before being read again by the Bundesrat. According to Holetscheck, the government in Bavaria will “submit a motion in the Länderkammer (state chamber) to reject the bill in its entirety”, but Lauterbach has said that this will not stop that law since it does not require the approval of the Länderkammer.
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