German legalization details have emerged. A draft of the German legalization bill leaked to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur or DPA news agency.
The German government is still hammering out the legalization details, so some of these rules could change. But so far, we’ve seen how Germany’s social cannabis clubs might work. And what kind of restrictions the government is placing on cannabis consumers.
German Legalization Details
As German politicians deliberate in the Bundestag, their initial legalization details look like this:
- Cannabis clubs will be limited to 500 members. You cannot be a member of more than one club.
- You’ll be able to grow three plants at home for personal use.
- Cannabis club premises must be fenced with security requirements like burglar-proof doors and windows.
- Greenhouses need a privacy screen.
- The clubs must remain a specific distance from other cannabis clubs, schools, playgrounds, sports facilities, daycare centers, and other areas that government deems vulnerable.
- Cannabis clubs will be required to draw up a “health and youth protection” plan and appoint an “addiction officer” who must complete training and continually update it.
- Members of the cannabis club board of directors will have to obtain a “certificate of good conduct.”
- The clubs will have to follow the rules on the uses and limits of pesticides and fertilizers and keep detailed records of the seed-to-sale process. Including the source of the seeds, how many seeds they store, how many plants they grow, how much they’ve sold to members, current levels of inventory, destroyed or discarded stock, etc.
- Cannabis clubs will also have to report to the government the cannabinoid content of their products. So far, the German legalization is only interested in THC and CBD details.
- Cannabis clubs cannot sell over 50 grams monthly to a single member.
- Cannabis must come in “neutral packaging or unpackaged.”
- “Consumption incentives” for young people are forbidden.
- A leaflet requiring information on weight, harvest date, best before date, and THC & CBD content in percent will be mandatory with each purchase.
- Consumption in public will be legal, but not within the hours of 7 am and 8 pm. You can also not consume within 250 meters of schools, daycares, playgrounds, youth or sports facilities, etc.
- Cannabis remains illegal for anyone under 18. If you’re over 18 but under 21, you can only purchase up to 30 grams per month of cannabis, limited to 10% THC.
As mentioned in another article, German legalization includes a pilot project to test commercial legalization in select municipalities. Details still need to be worked out.
Cannabis Social Clubs: Pros and Cons
Pro-cannabis German politicians hope to get these social clubs up and running by the end of the year. The pilot programme may take longer, but the optimistic anticipate an Autumn 2023 launch.
That said, what about these cannabis social clubs? While full-scale free-market legalization is ideal, one could argue that the German model is superior to Canada’s.
As we’ve covered before, Canada is cartel country. And the cannabis industry is shaping up to be the same kind of oligopoly that dominates Canada’s telecom, banking, maple syrup, airline, beer, and grocery industries.
Meanwhile, authorities target Canada’s social cannabis clubs that predate legalization – like the VCBC.
So let’s examine the pros and cons of the revealed details of German legalization.
Pros
- Local quality control. Although the German government insists on setting national standards, it looks as if each club can pursue its own growing style.
- Non-profit vs. Profiteering. There is nothing wrong with profiting from cannabis people have voluntarily bought. But suppose you’ve lobbied and used government regulations to help eliminate the competition. In that case, your profit comes at the expense of others. That’s not profiting; that’s profiteering. Suppose the only options are this profiteering crony-capitalist model like Canada’s or a nonprofit social club model like Germany. In that case, many would prefer the German model.
- Access: Any step toward legalization is a step in the right direction. Germans will be able to find and buy cannabis easily and know who the farmers are and how they grow it.
- Economic Benefits: Even small-scale, nonprofit legalization has economic benefits. From the capital goods required to grow cannabis to the uptick in stoners buying munchies. Everybody benefits from legal cannabis. Only moral busybodies oppose it.
Cons
- Social Stigma: If the current draft becomes law, German legalization details include the continued stigma of a nontoxic, medicinal herb.
- Nonprofit vs. Profit: If the marketplace is open and free, anybody can buy or sell cannabis. In this environment, the only way to profit is by offering goods and services to people on a consensual basis. The German government, bowing to EU pressure, removed the profit-and-loss feature that signals where resources should go.
German Legalization Details
German politicians haven’t set their legalization details in stone. But even if half of these proposals remain, it clearly indicates the direction the German government is moving.
Like other legal regimes, the government emphasizes public health and safety, including moral outcry about “young people,” as if young adults had no agency.
But unlike other legal regimes, where the appeal to “public health” is often cover for corporate-state control, in Germany, lawmakers actually seemed concerned with an illicit supply of cannabis.
Therefore, they plan to legalize nonprofit cannabis clubs. There is no excuse for other countries not to follow in their footsteps. Including already legal Canada, where nonprofit cannabis clubs have to fight for their existence in the courts.