Cannabis legalization in Germany is taking concrete shape. The Key points paper submitted by the federal government provides for a partial release of cannabis: purchase and possession of the herbal intoxicant should be allowed in the future – but are subject to strict conditions.
The German population is divided on the subject of “legal cannabis”. While half of the people surveyed by the ZDF Politbarometer consider decriminalization to be the right step, around 43 percent see it as the wrong decision. A further seven percent were still undecided or had no differentiated opinion at the time of the survey.
Pros and cons of cannabis legalization
The biggest point of criticism of legalization opponents remains the possible trivialization of the intoxicant due to the free availability. This makes it difficult to protect particularly vulnerable groups, such as minors. On the other hand, the advantages include not only medical use but also the relief for the state and taxpayers.
Because how the Statista graphic shows, the police record more than 100,000 cannabis-related offenses every year. In 2022 there were almost 180,000 such offenses – two years earlier there were even more than 188,000. This does not even include smuggling and illegal trade. Cases of unauthorized possession would only apply from 25.1 grams under the new regulation, which would eliminate a large part of the registered offenses.
(Bild: shutterstock/3dmask )
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This not only means a significant relief for the rule of law, but also for the taxpayer. How a study by Düsseldorf’s Heinrich Heine University shows, the savings in police, court and prison costs would amount to around 1.4 billion euros. Furthermore, the state can collect up to 1.8 billion euros a year through a cannabis tax. Sales, wage and corporate income taxes also benefit the Treasury – the experts estimate these at a total of around 1.1 billion euros.
(jl)
