Planned cannabis release: Criticism of the lack of protection for young people

The federal government wants to partially release the consumption of cannabis – and yesterday presented its plans for this. But they have met with some fierce criticism. The main concern is the protection of young people.

The planned partial release of cannabis consumption has met with some fierce criticism because of the possible consequences for young people. In view of the plans, paediatricians fear increased cannabis consumption by minors.

The experiences with alcohol showed that it is not a problem for young people to get legalized drugs, said the Secretary General of the German Society for Child and Adolescent Medicine (DGKJ), Burkhard Rodeck, of the “Rheinische Post”. “That’s to be expected after the legalization of cannabis use for this addictive substance.”

“The offer for this age group is not limited by the release from 18 years, but rather expanded,” said Rodeck. The dangers of cannabis use at a young age are clear. This is shown by a study commissioned by the Ministry of Health. “Regular cannabis use in adolescents leads to structural and functional changes in the brain with limitations in attention, thinking, intelligence and social skills.”

Warnings from pharmacists too

Pharmacists also warn of the dangers for young people. The North Rhine Association of Pharmacists spoke out against a role for pharmacies in cannabis sales within the framework of model projects. “If cannabis is tested in model regions, this will have to go through the pharmacies to ensure scientific support. However, the pharmacies do not attach importance to this additional task,” said the head of the pharmacists’ association, Thomas Preis, of the “Rheinische Post”. He warned of the dangers of cannabis legalization for young people. “Even the slimmed-down version of cannabis legalization is medically and pharmaceutically unacceptable.”

Inadequate child and youth protection

CDU General Secretary Mario Czaja also saw insufficient child and youth protection. “We therefore firmly reject the proposals now submitted for the release of the cannabis drug,” he told the editorial network Germany.

“Anyone who wants to set up state-controlled cannabis clubs and plans model projects for the commercial cultivation and sale of cannabis in Germany is not keeping young people away from drugs, but is actually encouraging them to consume them,” criticized Dorothee Bär, deputy leader of the Union faction in the newspaper “Augsburg General”.

Drug commissioner sees room for improvement

Drug commissioner Burkhard Blienert sees the release more positively. The SPD politician welcomed the key points in the newspapers of the Funke media group as “an important step towards more health and youth protection and more prevention”.

At the same time, there is still a lot to do. Blienert called for more “local prevention and addiction support”. Above all, there must be offers for addiction prevention “at every school”, said the drug commissioner.

Lauterbach defended the government plans

Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach had on Wednesday in the daily topics defended the federal government’s plans to legalize cannabis. “We have had no success with the current ban policy,” said the SPD politician. It is a good compromise that the cultivation is organized through membership in the association.

Lauterbach and Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir (Greens) had previously presented the traffic light coalition’s plans for the legalization of cannabis. Accordingly, the sale of cannabis should be subject to certain conditions. Consumers should join an association – a so-called cannabis social club – and the daily and monthly fee will also be rationed.

According to the government’s ideas, a commercial distribution of cannabis should first be examined in a model project in various model regions. There will be a draft for this after the parliamentary summer break. The evaluation of the model will take about five years.