Cannabis, Dope | The new cannabis law is in reality a bureaucratic monster

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A few thousand people stood under the Brandenburg Gate at midnight, smoking marijuana until the statue of the four horses was barely visible. As of today, it is legal to use cannabis products in Germany.

The government has of course managed to turn the new scheme into a bureaucratic monster of rare dimensions. So now everyone is furious – and it will surely get worse.

The question of legalization – or not legalization – of hashish and marijuana has caused high-level politicians to attack each other furiously over the past year. The use of words has at times been of such a nature that an outsider had to wonder if it was the country’s future that was at stake.

A bleak future for the nation

But the government coalition – with health minister and doctor Karl Lauterbach at the head – found themselves using harsh insults and violent accusations, in order to get the legalization through in the Bundestag.

“Young people are now going to be lured into the accident, when anyone over 18 gets easy access to marijuana – or can legally grow their own hemp in the living room or on the terrace,” reads the Christian Democratic opposition, which during the debate in Parliament depicted a bleak future for the nation’s rising dynasties.

The Minister of Health was for many years a high-profile opponent of legalization. Now he has turned the tables and believes that recent research shows how wrong he was.

Because if such substances are cultivated and sold under controlled circumstances, young people can be protected from the potent – and highly harmful – products that are traded more or less covertly.

Asbjørn Svarstad

Mostly works with historical feature articles, political commentary and is an authorized guide in Sachsenhausen. Has since 1996 lived permanently in Berlin where he has worked for various Scandinavian media.

“Pot” in the home

So from today, all adults can store 50 grams of “pot” at home and at the same time have their own little hemp farm in the living room. For those between 18 and 21 years of age, the upper limit is set at 30 grams.

Those who do not want to be responsible for the production themselves, can join a “Cannabis Social Club”, where the hashish is grown and sold to registered members, but only up to 50 grams a month. And membership is required, because it is still strictly forbidden to push such things on the street.

The Christian Democrats (CDU) attempted a revenge, when the new paragraphs that were hammered through in the Bundestag in January two weeks ago had to be approved by the upper chamber – i.e. the Bundesrådet. But they did not succeed there either, despite the fact that the police, state prosecutors, judges, drug researchers, psychologists and other experts had in the meantime reported serious objections.

After the defeat was a fact, CDU leader Frederik Merz declared that this law will be removed as soon as his party comes to power – and he reckons that will happen in two years at the latest.

Must avoid contact with criminals

The bureaucrats are tearing their hair out in despair, because it was also decided that everyone who in recent years has been fined or sentenced to prison for breaking the old ban, will now have amnesty.

In practice, this means that tens of thousands of court decisions across the country must be reviewed manually, the penalties removed – and the registration in central databases deleted – which will keep armies of lawyers busy full-time for many months. As if they don’t have other – and more important – matters to manage.

Health Minister Lauterbach, together with the Liberals and the Greens in the government, claim that legalization in this way means that in the future young consumers will not have to come into contact with criminals and that they will no longer have to buy questionable goods at high -contents.

The plants in the black market have become , so that the strength of the products has doubled compared to a few years ago. Thus, the risk of young users suffering psychological damage is significantly greater than with the new law, where the upper limit is set at 10 percent THC.

Compensating with a joint

Surveys have shown that at least four million Germans are regular users of hashish or marijuana. But whether it is these the government will now assist is more than doubtful. For the lion’s share of them probably have no plans to switch to weaker – but legal – smoking matters. And so it is a big question whether the new system will have any impact on the illegal market at all.

When I moved into a new apartment in Berlin 25 years ago, one day I opened the living room window and got a real cloud of marijuana in the middle of the tile. Out in the backyard, I could only see three elderly people sitting and chatting. So I had to ask a neighbor what was going on.

He pointed to the three and explained that beer – even at Aldi – had become so expensive that the tiny pensions no longer allowed old drinkers to stay half-drunk all day. But, like many fellow Berliners, they had found out the problem could be compensated for with a joint every now and then.

At the time, the elderly were still invited on free bus trips across the Dutch border, where they were transported to supermarkets with the opportunity to shop for cheap cheese and Geneva.

The old people from the backyard, however, skipped out, and instead went into town to buy half a kilo at a coffee shop. The money was collected in advance and what I witnessed was them meeting to share the contents of the smuggled carrier bag.

The sellers are lined up every two metres

My architect friend snorted at this discovery and thought that the older smugglers were taking too great a risk. Because, as he said, he himself – once a week – gets paid and high-quality hashish delivered to his door. It is grown biodynamically by German farmers with their own farms in the Bekaadalen. So he at least did not risk getting goods that had been sprayed with the help of toxic pesticides and other additives.

The Turkish hashish – which is traded everywhere in the city – is admittedly a couple of euros cheaper per gram, he said: “But even there you run the risk of getting various chemicals included in the purchase”.

Berlin’s big market is located in Görlitzer Park, where the sellers are lined up every two metres, and where the police do not enter if there are fewer than 30 officers.

This market is under the control of African gangs, who have divided the park into zones – one for each gang. There is a lot of traffic to and from the area and the smoke hangs heavily over the area around the clock.

The THC content is significantly above the new ten percent limit. And in the last couple of years it has become a big problem that not all marijuana is actually the real thing. Because the male flower contains almost no THC, which for the producers makes them worthless.

But now clever people have found that the dried males can be sprayed with chemical preparations that also produce intoxication – but of a far more risky nature – and be sold as ordinary marijuana. Extensive use of pesticides must also pose a not inconsiderable health risk.

Free forward to steam off

More than 20 years ago, provisions were introduced in most of the 16 states that made it illegal to possess cannabis for personal use. Here in Berlin, there will be no penalty for being caught with less than 15 grams. In other states the upper limit is five grams, so in reality cannabis has been more or less legal for many years.

But now it will be free to – openly – vaping in parks and on the streets. Admittedly, it is still strictly forbidden to take a joint less than 100 meters from schools and kindergartens, but who is going to control that?

The wonder is great that the government has managed to put together a law that is in reality a bureaucratic monster. Should controls be introduced to ensure that people only grow cannabis plants with less than 10 percent THC – and who will implement these? The questions are in a queue.

Read more comments from Asbjørn Svarstad

The Dutch model

Critics also ask why the government does not take the full step and allow the Dutch model of open sales through its own stores. In fact, the plan was to create state-controlled outlets with taxed products. But this would be in breach of EU law, so the plan had to be deleted again from the draft of the new paragraphs.

Political forces are apparently already in the process of introducing “coffee shops” – but then as a test project under strict supervision. THEN there will be no trouble with Brussels, it is claimed.

Although from today it is legal to be in possession of up to 50 grams of marijuana, the aforementioned “Cannabis Social Clubs” will only be opened on 1 July.

These are also not allowed to grow anything for their members before that time, so in reality it will be until well into the autumn before they can offer legal marijuana. And no one has yet understood the reason why this is done this way. (Not that anyone seems to care that the total consumption in the coming months will be based on illegal products.)

It has never been so easy to get hold of strong substances

The feelings are many and strong, and while last night the supporters danced around and let off steam under the Brandenburger Tor, politicians of all stripes are ready to tighten up again.

If this is carried out in the next election period by a CDU-led government, it is another question whether their new law will not be stricter than the one that previously applied.

Should that happen, the supporters of legalization must ask themselves and each other whether they haven’t just done themselves a rather big disservice.

Because then the whole bridal party starts all over again and there will probably be no less memory room than nowadays.

I read in the newspapers that it has never been as easy as now to get hold of cocaine, methamphetamine and other strong drugs. You simply order online, and 20 minutes later the bike courier rings the doorbell. Of course, he takes cards, if you don’t have cash.

Even those who sell hashish and marijuana rub their hands and laugh about it all. Their products will be significantly cheaper than what will be sold in the clubs. So they do not feel at all threatened by the health minister’s declaration of war. On the contrary.