German committees from a national legislative group representing states have made a number of recommendations to a bill on marijuana legalization that was recently passed by the parliament. They hope this will be discussed in a bicameral panel of mediation during the summer.
At this time, it’s unclear whether the Bundesrat (the state-represented chamber) will officially move to refer the Bundestag approved legislation to a mediator committee during a scheduled meeting on March 22. The Legal Affairs, Health and Interior Affairs Committees will seek to amend the bill if it decides to do so.
If the bill is referred to mediation it would delay the date of legalization by six months. From April to October. The committee would not have the power to alter the law passed by the Bundestag. The committee responsible for mediation would then need to refer any possible changes to the two chambers to confirm.
This week, a proposal to repeal the law in its entirety failed to win a majority vote at both the Legal Affairs and Health Committees.
Legal Tribune Online reported that the Health Committee accepted an amendment by State Minister Petra Kopping, of the Social Democratic Party. The amendment would delay legalization for six months in order to take into account the “diverse impacts of the law” on states and municipalities.
The CDU/CSU center-right alliance also accepted a proposal from North Rhine-Westphalia’s Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann to address the “increased demand for prevention work” in the context of the legalization laws.
A proposal to eliminate provisions on automatic review of prior cannabis convictions and their possible deletion was approved by the Legal Affairs Committee.
As an alternative, another proposal accepted would delay the implementation of clemency until six months after the legalization has taken effect. A second measure would be to revise policy so that individuals must petition for relief rather than having the process automated.
The Interior Affairs Committee accepted a proposal to limit the number of cultivation facilities, and to ban public consumption. This recommendation could be brought before conciliation.
Just because amendments have been approved by committee doesn’t mean that they will be adopted in the parliament.
In September, the Bundesrat attempted to block this reform but failed.
The floor vote last month in the Bundestag took place weeks after the leaders of the coalition announced that the bill had been finalized, and the outstanding concerns were resolved, mostly from the SPD.
Before the vote, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said that the country was “fundamentally re-evaluating our cannabis control policies in order to fight the black market.”
He said that “the second goal” is to better protect children and young people, pointing out the high rates of youth usage under current law. He also stated that the legalization proposals are an “urgently necessary modernization of our marijuana policy.”
The SPD leaders have expressed concern about the final Bundestag vote scheduled for December on the legalization Bill.
The first debate was delayed in October , in response to the conflict between Israel and Palestine . also pushed back the vote for November while supporters worked to improve the bill.
The health minister answered questions at a December meeting from members who were opposed to legalization. He responded at several points to lawmakers who claimed that legalization could send the wrong message to youth , and increase underage consumption.
Lawmakers also made a number of changes to the bill in recent months, mainly to ease restrictions which were opposed by advocates and supporters within the Bundestag. The changes included increasing the maximum amount of marijuana that can be kept at home and eliminating the possibility of prison time for possession slightly above the limit.
In April, the legislators agreed to implement the reform in a phased manner. In July, social clubs that allow members to purchase marijuana will open.
Officials plan to introduce a second complementary measure which would create pilot programs for commercial sale in all cities across the country. This legislation will be revealed after it has been submitted to the European Commission to review.
The German Federal Cabinet has approved an initial framework for legalization measures to be implemented in 2022. However, the government said that it also wanted the EU‘s approval to make sure the reform would not violate their international obligations.
The framework is the result of months of discussions and reviews between the German government and the coalition of traffic lights. Officials have taken a first step towards legalization by 2022. They launched a series hearings to inform legislation that will end prohibition.
In November, government officials from several countries, including the U.S. met in Germany to talk about international marijuana policy, as the host country works on legalization.
In 2022, a group of German legislators, including Narcotics Drugs Commission Burkhard Blienert , will separately visit the U.S., and tour California cannabis businesses , to help inform their country’s legalization approach.
The visit was made after the top officials of Germany, Luxembourg and Malta met for the first time to discuss plans and challenges related to recreational marijuana legalization.
In 2021, the leaders of the coalition government announced that they had agreed to end cannabis prohibition as well as enacting regulations for a new legal industry. They first revealed certain details of this plan in 2013.
In a new international survey released in 2022 , the majority of respondents in Germany and other key European countries supported legalization.
The UN’s drug control agency recently reiterated its view that legalizing marijuana to be used for non-medical and scientific purposes is a violation international treaties. However, it said appreciated that the German government had scaled back their cannabis plan before the recent vote.
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The post German lawmakers recommend marijuana legalization amendments, increasing chances of delayed implementation first appeared on Marijuana Moment.
