Wednesday, December 29, 2021
Pandemic is a priority
Traffic light takes its time with cannabis approval
Stoners, farmers and corporations alike are looking forward to the announced cannabis legalization. In the traffic light coalition, however, an early release is not expected. It is currently “not a good time” for a corresponding draft law, they say.
Cannabis approval is not expected in the Ampel coalition anytime soon. There is no schedule for implementation, “The fight against the pandemic has priority,” said FDP health politician Andrew Ullmann in the newspapers of the Funke media group. “It is currently not a good time for a cannabis bill,” said SPD domestic politician Sebastian Fiedler to the Funke newspapers.
According to the coalition agreement, the SPD, Greens and FDP want to introduce a “controlled distribution of cannabis to adults for consumption in licensed shops”. This would “control the quality, prevent the transfer of contaminated substances and ensure the protection of minors”.
However, resistance to the project is emerging in the Federal Council. The federal government is “going the wrong way”, criticized Baden-Württemberg’s CDU interior minister Thomas Strobl. The release will “not bring any noticeable relief” to the police. “To protect our children and young people, the police must continue to be active,” he told the Funke newspapers. In addition, during drug controls the police “must first check for all drugs and cannot exclude certain substances from the outset”.
Illegal markets should continue to be fought
According to the FDP, the cannabis should be sold “primarily” in pharmacies. Ullmann believes that especially companies “that already sell cannabis for medical purposes” would be interested in it. State price controls are not provided. According to Ullmann’s ideas, however, cannabis advertising should be “very severely restricted”.
For the SPD security expert Fiedler, the price of cannabis is “one of the open questions with many unknowns”. He warned that “the illegal markets will try to take advantage of three influencing factors: lower prices, easier access, harder substances”. For Fiedler, too, a controlled levy means “that the security authorities must continue to fight the illegal markets”.