legalization
Union to Steinmeier: Do not sign the cannabis law
The cannabis law has passed the Federal Council. The Union is still trying to get the Federal President to pull the emergency brake. photo
© Christian Charisius/dpa
The Federal Council has passed the cannabis law. However, the criticism has not stopped – the Union wants the Federal President to pull the emergency brake.
The Union parliamentary group’s health policy spokesman, Tino Sorge, has called on Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to pass the law Not to sign cannabis legalization. “The law should be stopped for the time being after the chaotic debate of the last few weeks. It is not too late for that,” said the CDU politician to the Germany editorial network. “We appeal to the Federal President not to sign the cannabis law. The unanimous criticism from all the justice and interior ministers of the federal states is too great.”
The Federal Council passed the cannabis law passed by the Bundestag on Friday. Despite a lot of criticism, there was no majority in the state chamber in favor of calling the mediation committee of the Bundestag and Bundesrat and thus slowing down the law. The text allows possession and cultivation of the drug for adults with numerous requirements for personal consumption.
Federal President reviews laws from a constitutional perspective
The reform, a turning point in drug policy, can come into force on Easter Monday. However, it must first be signed by Steinmeier and officially announced. One of the Federal President’s tasks is to check whether a law has been passed in accordance with the provisions of the Basic Law. According to the Office of the Federal President, in the history of the Federal Republic there have only been eight cases in which the head of state refused to sign a law.
The chairmen of the CDU/CSU factions in the German state parliaments, the German Bundestag and the CDU/CSU group in the EPP faction had already called on the head of state at the beginning of March to refuse to sign. They justified this by saying that, in their view, legalization violates international and European law. The federal government, on the other hand, is of the opinion that the model adopted is permissible.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach defended the partial liberalization. “The current drug policy has definitely failed when it comes to cannabis,” said the SPD politician on WDR television. “We have seen a doubling of consumption among 18 to 25 year olds, 50 percent more among 12 to 17 year olds in the last ten years.” The government wants to accompany the move with a prevention campaign and argues that the black market can be pushed back through partial liberalization.
NRW Interior Minister Reul “stunned”
The Interior Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Herbert Reul (CDU), contradicted this assessment. “Do you believe that those who are involved in organized crime in the drug trade say: Okay, now we give up, now we won’t do anything anymore?” said the CDU politician on the ARD “Tagesthemen”. “They will find new ways. They will offer stronger doses, they will offer different prices on the market.”
Reul also expressed doubts about the controllability of the new rules, which should take effect in just over a week. He was “stunned”. “I’ve never seen someone stumble into a law like that.” Apparently there is a government at work in Berlin “that has to get something done at all costs.”
Ramelow criticizes “rumpy relationship”
Thuringia’s Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (Left) told the editorial network Germany that the Union states should not give the impression that the risk of addiction is now increasing because of cannabis legalization. “It has always been there. Decriminalization must be the starting point for us to take care of addiction prevention and for us to take away business from criminal structures.”
At the same time, he called for better participation of the states in legislative processes by the federal government – because it is the states “that are concerned with enforcement and implementation”. “We’re currently experiencing a pretty rough relationship between the federal and state governments – even before the cannabis law. That’s not good.”