Germany is continuing to pave the way for legalizing cannabis for adult-use purposes and has started to hold hearings focused on various factors of the new legislation.
On Monday, the German Ministry of Health announced plans to start holding expert consultations on various aspects of legalization starting Tuesday.
The five expert hearings will be held at the Federal Ministry of Health and will be led by the Commissioner of the Federal Government for Drug and Addiction Policy.
The legal proceedings are intended to help government officials get ready for the scheduled parliamentary processes that will dictate regulations on the supply of recreational cannabis to adults in the country.
Over 200 top-tier professionals and government officials from an assortment of academic fields and career paths will be in attendance. Experts in law, addiction medicine and business will be negotiating terms to address the foremost pressing issues.
The five designated expert hearings will cover the following topics.
- Health and consumer protection
- Youth protection and prevention
- Supply chains + ecological and economic issues
- Criminal liability + inspection measures and licensing
- International expert hearing – conference on international experience
Current laws in Germany allow for possession of small amounts of cannabis and trading of designated medical THC products only. According to a report from Funke Media Group that Mugglehead covered last November, members of the Social Democrats (SPD), Greens and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) had all previously agreed on the idea of legalization in 2021.
Read more: Cantourage and Clever Leaves join forces to distribute cannabis in Germany
Read more: PharmaCielo to supply Germany with cannabis products from Colombia
The German government said in a press release on Monday that the approaching discussion throughout hearings between invited experts will help lay a solid foundation for the upcoming paper on key issues.
The final hearing on the subject of international experience is scheduled to be held on June 30 at the Allianz Forum in Berlin.
Many questions still linger about the new cannabis legislation in Germany, including legal limits for operating an automobile, laws regarding personal cultivation, the permissible age to be able to purchase cannabis and whether or not former cannabis convictions will be revoked.
The commissioners’ webpage has indicated that those lingering questions are currently unanswerable, but will be clarified in the future.
Insgesamt werden sich mehr als 200 der führenden Suchtmediziner*innen, Jurist*innen, Wirtschaftsvertreter*Innen sowie Verbandsvertreter*innen aus ganz Deutschland und weltweit austauschen. Mehr Infos: https://t.co/Uwyn6t1EWm
— Sucht- und Drogenbeauftragter der Bundesregierung (@BdB_SD_Blienert) June 13, 2022
The German Federal Government Commissioner for Addiction and Drugs, Burkhard Blienert said in a statement that the time had come to commence the preparatory phase of legislation. He also expressed that being able to make that announcement was very special to him personally and that he was quite thrilled about it.
“Like many others, I have been working for years to ensure that we in Germany finally stop criminalizing cannabis users and start a modern and health-oriented cannabis policy,” he said.
Blienert added that the hearings are intended to deliberate which measures can be utilized to ensure due diligence for protecting young people and consumers’ overall health post-legalization.
