Vote on legalizing cannabis in Germany on next week's agenda

The bill to legalize cannabis in Germany is officially on next week’s legislative agenda. Plans to pass the reform by April are currently on track.

The vote scheduled by the Finance Committee for next Wednesday must be followed by a vote by the Health Committee and then by the full chamber.

The bill’s inclusion on the agenda comes about two weeks after the leaders of Germany’s so-called “traffic light” coalition government announced that they had reached a final agreement, resolving outstanding issues, primarily those within the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

German lawmakers said the bill, which was originally introduced last year by Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, had been slightly revised to expand and accelerate monitoring and reporting requirements related to the illicit market.

Georg Wurth, an activist and executive director of the German Hemp Association, said Wednesday that the Finance Committee’s schedule for the vote «makes it extremely unlikely that the bill will be blocked again.».

The #CanG It is on the Finance Committee’s agenda for next Wednesday. This makes it extremely unlikely that it will be blocked at this stage! Other committees, particularly the Health Committee, and the Bundestag itself are expected to approve it next week.https://t.co/IMbSpa9Fal

— Georg Wurth (@WurthGeorg) February 14, 2024

«Other committees, particularly the Health Committee, and the Bundestag itself are likely to follow suit next week,» he said.

Next week’s agenda also includes an opposition motion aimed at «stopping the legalization of cannabis,» introduced by the parliamentary group of the Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) who has already tried several times to block the project.

Members of the parliamentary committee are also set to discuss the government’s response to the Federal Council, which represents the German states and has also already tried, unsuccessfully, to block the reform.

Delays and negotiations

The final vote on the legalization bill, originally scheduled for last month, was ultimately canceled due to concerns raised by SPD leaders.

Lawmakers had already postponed their first debate on the legislation, which was finally held in October, apparently due to the conflict between Israel and Palestine. They also postponed a vote scheduled for November, as supporters of the bill were working to improve it.

At a meeting in December, the health minister answered questions from lawmakers, some of whom oppose legalization. On several occasions, he countered lawmakers who suggested that legalization would send the wrong message to young people and lead to increased use among minors, stating that their arguments «misrepresented» the legislation.

Lawmakers have also recently made a series of changes to the bill, primarily intended to ease restrictions which faced opposition from both opponents and supporters of legalization within the Bundestag. In particular, they raised the limits on personal possession and eliminated the possibility of a prison sentence for possession of an amount slightly exceeding the authorized limit.

Lawmakers also agreed to phase in the reform, making possession and home cultivation legal for adults starting in April. Cannabis clubs that would be able to distribute cannabis to their members are set to open in July.

The authorities plan to introduce a second complementary measure that would establish pilot programs for the commercial sale of cannabis in Germany. This legislation is expected to be unveiled after it has been submitted to the European Commission for review.

After the bill has undergone its final reading in the Bundestag, it will be submitted to the Bundesrat, a separate legislative body that represents the German states. The members of the Members of the Bundesrat tried to block the reform proposed in September, but they were unable to do so.