The European Commission partially registers a European Citizens' Initiative on cannabis

The European Commission has announced that it has authorized a European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) that would promote access to medical cannabis and encourage research into its therapeutic potential.

The various European associations behind the initiative now have six months to launch a petition campaign, and one year to collect one million signatures in at least seven member states, in order to force the proposal to be examined.

The original proposal contained 3 objectives:

• convene a trans-European citizens' assembly on cannabis policies, including sanctions and the coherence of member states' policies
• promote access to medical cannabis and authorize cannabis transport and its derivatives prescribed for therapeutic purposes in order to guarantee the full enjoyment of the right to health
• allocate the necessary resources for research into cannabis for therapeutic purposes

The Commission has therefore retained only the last 2 proposals, and will not be taking a position on the standardization of European cannabis policies, which could jeopardize the very principle of the petition.

«The Commission has had to refuse registration of the initiative's first objective, as it does not fall within its remit to submit a proposal for a legal act in this area.»

In 2014, however, the Commission had already accepted an ECI on the harmonization of European cannabis policies and the legalization of cannabis. Entitled «Weed Like To Talk», it managed to collect 170,000 signatures.

«The Commission has not analyzed the substance of the proposals at this stage,» she added. «The decision to register the initiative with regard to its second and third objectives is of a legal nature and does not prejudge the Commission's final legal and political conclusions on this initiative and the action it intends to take, if any, should the initiative gain the necessary support.»

The organizers had initially proposed a slightly expanded version of the initiative last November, but the objectives were consolidated after an initial review and feedback from the Commission.

If the authors of the initiative collect at least one million signatures within a year, the Commission «will have to decide whether or not to act on the request, and will be required to explain its reasoning».

The measure, entitled the «European Cannabis Initiative» (ECI), states that the EU has «progressively adopted common positions on innovative approaches to drug policies centered on human rights, a position reflected in its participation in UN meetings».

It also points out that Member States such as Germany, Luxembourg and Malta have pushed forward broader reforms aimed at legalizing cannabis.

«The lack of significant progress in containing illicit narcotics in Europe calls for a radical rethink of the approach which, for decades, has failed to reduce drug supply and demand. There is no evidence that tougher penalties have made Europe's drug control system more effective, whereas they have mobilized resources to reduce the risks and/or harm associated with problem drug use. This ECI aims to examine some of the reasons why this has happened».

Last year, a UN panel of experts called for an end to the global war on drugs, and a separate commission on drug policy, made up of presidents and prime ministers from around the world, argued for legal and regulated access to currently illicit substances.

In the context of this possible European cannabis initiative, the leaders of EU member state Germany's coalition government recently declared that they had reached a final agreement on a bill to legalize cannabis nationwide, paving the way for a vote in the last week of February and promulgation in April.