The traffic light coalition has criticized the cornerstones of Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach for the legalization of the drug cannabis, saying that the limits are too narrow. Key point: The law could miss the black market suppression.
“Because the key issues paper – as far as is known – misses the primary goal of pushing back the black market to a large extent,” said drug policy spokeswoman for the FDP parliamentary group Kristine Lütke in the “Bild” newspaper (Thursday). The upper limit for the intoxicating substance THC specified in the cornerstones was drawn arbitrarily and further opened the floodgates to illegal trade. The paper stipulates that the THC content in legally traded cannabis may not exceed 15 percent.
The producer and dealer industry also demands more intoxication potential. The managing director of the cannabis wholesaler Cansativa, Jakob Sons, told the editorial network Germany: “If consumers do not get what they want in legal shops, then they stay with their well-known black market dealer.”
The CDU health expert Erwin Rüddel, on the other hand, complained in “Bild” that Lauterbach “places more value on decriminalization than on health protection”.
The professional association of paediatricians considers legalization to be problematic, especially for under-25s. “The brain is only mature at around 25 years of age,” said the head of the association, Thomas Fischbach, to the newspaper. Regular cannabis consumption permanently disrupts brain development. “It must be prevented that older people are sent ahead to flog the substances to younger people.” Fischbach called for an evaluation of the social impact from the outset. Lauterbach’s paper, however, envisages an evaluation only after four years.