Skip to main content
Gifts from The Morning Star
European cannabis reform: still lost between the black market and the free market
Germany has scaled back its recreational cannabis plans to avoid falling foul of EU laws. That means full marketisation is on hold for now — but that is not a bad thing, argues ISAAC KNEEBONE-HOPKINS
A worker prepares medical marijuana in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey

ON April 12 2023 German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach announced the proposed plan for Germany’s cannabis legalisation. A two-stage process was laid out with immediate plans for the decriminalisation of cannabis for recreational use and the rollout of state-regulated not-for-profit cannabis social clubs where members will be able to buy cannabis for personal use. The law is currently still in its draft form and may be altered before it is voted through.

Germany’s club system would be like fellow EU member Malta, which passed legislation to decriminalise cannabis in 2021 and started accepting license applications for the clubs earlier this year.

The second stage of Germany’s plan is short on details but will involve a limited five-year pilot exploring the possibilities for a recreational consumer market in an EU country. However, at this time little information has been released to say how and where this will happen.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Features / 13 February 2025
13 February 2025
ESTHER, from Nordic Model Now! explains how decriminalisation of prostitution, rendering it just another form of ‘work’, would undermine the Equality Act 2010
United States Vice-President JD Vance, right, shakes hands w
Features / 12 February 2025
12 February 2025
The EU and Nato are umbilically tied – but what will the new Trump era and a reconfiguration of US interests mean for the war in Ukraine, asks VINCE MILLS
Chinese-made BYD passenger battery electric vehicles and plu
Features / 12 November 2024
12 November 2024
New tariffs on Chinese electric cars protect European capitalists at European consumers’ and workers’ expense, writes BHABANI SHANKAR NAYAK, showing a continuation of neocolonial trade practices