Cannabis legalization: How realistic are the traffic light plans?

As a campaign promise, especially for young voters, the tones were full-bodied: cannabis would be legalized quickly. But the prestige project of the traffic light coalition is progressing slowly.

A sweet smell pervades the corridors and halls of the Demecan company north of Dresden. Behind thick walls and guarded by a security service, one cannabis plant follows the next under bright lights. Hardly anyone would suspect a production facility for cannabis in the former slaughterhouse.

Constantin von der Groeben helped set it up. For about a year now, under high safety precautions, cultivation has been going on here exclusively for medical use. “The mother plants look great. But we’ll need a lot more of them,” says managing director von der Groeben during the assessment.

In the starting blocks for legalization

Currently, they are not allowed to produce more than one tonne of cannabis per year. However, they could increase to four to five tons in the short term. The company is in the starting blocks for the legalization planned by the traffic light government. But there is still a lack of planning security for the investments. “We need to know roughly where the draft law is headed,” says von der Groeben. But if there is clarity that the federal government is relying on cultivation in Germany and not on imports, then that will be the starting signal for the company to expand.

But the promise that the traffic light partners had made, especially to younger voters, is getting off to a slow start. A bill is not yet in sight. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach wants the EU Commission to examine the cornerstones for the legalization of cannabis. The project could violate EU law. In the Schengen Agreement, for example, Germany committed itself to preventing the illegal trade and sale of cannabis.

But the FDP in particular is putting the pressure on. The Liberals want the project to be implemented quickly. “2023 Bubatz legal,” promises FDP leader Christian Lindner when asked on funk at the end of September when Bubatz, i.e. cannabis, will be legal. “We’re putting the dealer out of work,” advertises FDP Justice Minister Marco Buschmann on Instagram in early October, shortly before the state elections in Lower Saxony.

Lauterbach under pressure

At the end of October, the health minister then tried to square the circle. Lauterbach was once against legalization. Now he is under pressure and has to push ahead with the prestige project of the traffic light. A balancing act for the minister, for whom health protection qua office must have top priority. The key points for legalization, which were developed under the leadership of Lauterbach’s ministry, now provide: Cultivation and consumption are to be regulated by the state. The sale exclusively to adults should be allowed in licensed specialist shops. The maximum amount is 20 to 30 grams. The cultivation of three plants per person should also become legal.

Lauterbach never tires of emphasizing that he changed his mind a while ago, in any case before the traffic light coalition partners had agreed on legalization. Not because he no longer sees any medical dangers from consumption. After discussions with investigators, however, he came to the conclusion that the previous ban policy had failed. Now the goal is to push back the black market and thereby achieve better child, youth and health protection.

Contradictions and disagreement at the traffic light

But Lauterbach hopes that legalization will also result in less consumption. He does not explain how this is supposed to work. Especially since the coalition partners don’t want to know anything about it. “I actually see things differently,” says Kristine Lütke, drug policy spokeswoman for the FDP.

She relies on personal responsibility and rejects upper limits for possessions. The drug policy spokeswoman for the Green Party, Kirsten Kappert-Gonther, is also skeptical. “I think it’s unlikely that the controlled release will lead to a reduction in consumption among adults,” she says.

The coalition is already entangled in contradictions when justifying legalization. And important details remain completely unclear in the key issues paper. For example, whether cannabis should also be allowed as so-called edibles, i.e. in food. And whether customers can also order online. FDP and Greens are for it. In regions where there is no licensed specialist shop, it must be possible to order cannabis online, says Green Party politician Kappert-Gonther. That’s how her liberal colleague Lütke sees it. Otherwise, going to the dealer or texting the dealer is always easier, she says. “And then we miss the goal of pushing back the black market as far as possible.”

Doctors warn against release from 18

In addition, it has not yet been decided whether there should be a limit for the content of THC, the intoxicating substance in cannabis, for under 21-year-olds. Because cannabis can also lead to brain damage and psychosis in young adults. Addiction doctors therefore generally warn against release from the age of 18. “We know that brain development is not complete until the mid-20s, and the brain is particularly sensitive in this phase when it comes to the development of mental illnesses,” warns Timo Krüger.

The specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy is not fundamentally against legalization. Krüger also considers the previous ban policy to have failed. Because despite this, consumption has increased and the number of therapies has increased. The doctor could imagine decriminalization and a well-prepared, regulated release from the age of 21. But the traffic light plans go too far for the addiction doctor. For example, in terms of the planned maximum quantity for sale of 20 to 30 grams. Far too much, says Krüger. Such an amount invites you to consume it every day. And when it comes to regulated release with the aim of protecting health, then that is exactly what should be avoided, the doctor warns.

Rapid legalization unrealistic

It is therefore questionable whether Lauterbach’s argument that legalization will provide more health protection will fully convince the EU Commission. The Minister of Health carefully gets out of the line of fire. “If the European Commission doesn’t allow it, for example, then I’m no longer the one making the law,” Lauterbach told ZDF in early November.

Of course, they don’t like to hear that on the cannabis plantation near Dresden. They hope the traffic light will deliver on its promise to legalize cannabis. But even then, the project would not be a sure-fire success for the company. “I think the black market will be our biggest competitor,” says managing director von der Groeben. “One should have no illusions about that. It will take a few years before we have pushed back the black market.”

But it is still completely unclear whether it will start soon and the yield of the cannabis flowers will then be freely available for sale. The Federal Ministry of Health is taciturn. The EU Commission has the key points. When the requested talks have ended, the results will be reported. So it will be a while before legalization is possible.

You can see more on the subject today in the report from Berlin – at 6 p.m. in the first.