Will Luxembourg become Europe's Colorado?

Luxembourg's new coalition government suggested during the negotiations, that it would legalize recreational cannabis. Today it's official: Luxembourg will soon become the first European country to legalize the recreational use of cannabis. The news was confirmed by the final coalition agreement, which specifies that a law on recreational cannabis will be drawn up, and outlines the initial details and broad outlines of this legalization.

Recreational cannabis in Luxembourg

Coalition agreement published on Monday quote: «the main objectives will be to decriminalize, or even legalize under conditions to be defined, the production on national territory as well as the purchase, possession and consumption of recreational cannabis for the personal needs of residents of legal age».

Luxembourg therefore intends to set up a legal cannabis market for Luxembourg residents. Under the coalition agreement, non-residents, whether European or non-European, will not be allowed to buy legal Luxembourg cannabis. With only 600,000 residents in Luxembourg, the market will be relatively small. The country hopes to avoid becoming a cannabis tourism destination like the Netherlands.

According to the document, the objectives of this legalization are as follows:

• steer consumers away from the illicit market
• reduce the psychological and physical dangers associated with cannabis in a determined manner
• combating supply-side crime

The Luxembourg government is therefore adopting a public health and safety perspective, making consumer protection and the fight against illegal trafficking its priorities, as is the case in Canada. The document specifies that the country intends to set up a state monopoly that will control the production and distribution chain, notably to guarantee product quality. From these details, we can assume that Luxembourg does not intend to make cannabis production an economic asset, but only to take charge of supplying its population. And so, a priori, it will not be exporting its production.

The document specifies that «revenues from the sale of cannabis will be invested as a priority in prevention, awareness-raising and care in the vast field of addiction». The move towards legalization seems to be part of a more global framework to combat dependency and drug addiction (title of the paragraph preceding that on the liberalization of recreational cannabis). The text also provides details on the medical cannabis program which will be evaluated after two years. At the end of this period, Luxembourg will consider modelling its program on the german program, In other words, to leave the prescription of cannabis to the discretion of doctors and to authorize its sale in all pharmacies (for the moment, only four pharmacies dispense cannabis).

The coalition agreement is valid for the next legislative term. These provisions are preliminary and the legalization of cannabis in Luxembourg will take place within the next five years.