A key committee in Germany\u2019s Bundestag has approved a bill to legalize marijuana, setting the stage for floor consideration and final votes on Friday. But there are new questions about whether the law will actually take effect in April as planned.<\/p>\n
The Health Committee, a central body of jurisdiction for the proposal, passed the legislation on Wednesday. It\u2019s one of at least eight parliamentary panels that are set consider the bill<\/a> on the same day before it advances to the floor.<\/p>\n The debate in the Health Committee apparently proved contentious. But in the end, members approved the measure with a series of previously agreed-upon changes.<\/p>\n \u201cThe next hurdle has been overcome!\u201d Green MP Kirsten Kappert-Gonther, who chairs the committee but passed on the responsibility to oversee Wednesday\u2019s meeting to a member of another party because she\u2019s a main advocate of the bill, said.<\/p>\n Die n\u00e4chste H\u00fcrde ist genommen! \u2014 Kirsten Kappert-Gonther (@KirstenKappert) February 21, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n However, while a final floor vote is still expected Friday, the timeline for implementation is less certain.<\/p>\n When the bill goes to the Bundesrat, a separate body that represents individual German states, members may ultimately refer it to a mediation committee to sort out issues related to the measure\u2019s criminal justice policy implications, Legal Tribune Online reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n The legislation doesn\u2019t require approval from the Bundesrat, which\u00a0tried to block the proposed reform in September but ultimately failed<\/a>. But it does have that mediation committee referral authority.<\/p>\n Health Minister Karl Lauterbach apparently rejected a proposal to extend the implementation timeline that could have avoided such a referral, so the current thinking is that discussions around the criminal justice components and timeline for legalization will be dealt with over the summer.<\/p>\n Die letzte formale H\u00fcrde ist genommen. Der Gesundheitsausschuss hat unsere \u00c4nderungsantr\u00e4ge und schlie\u00dflich auch das #CanG<\/a> angenommen! Damit k\u00f6nnen wir am Freitag die letzte Debatte im Plenum f\u00fchren und final \u00fcber das Gesetz abstimmen.<\/p>\n \u2014 Kristine L\u00fctke MdB (@kristine_lutke) February 21, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n \u201cThe last formal hurdle has been overcome,\u201d Kristine L\u00fctke of the Free Democratic Party said, according to a translation. \u201cThis means we can have the last debate in the plenary session on Friday and finally vote on the law.\u201d<\/p>\n Der Weg ins Plenum ist frei! #CanG<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Carmen Wegge (@CarmenWegge) February 21, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The committee developments on Wednesday come weeks after\u00a0leaders of Germany\u2019s so-called traffic light coalition government announced that\u00a0they\u2019d reached a final agreement on the legalization bill, resolving outstanding concerns<\/a>, primarily from the Social Democratic Party (SPD).<\/p>\n A final vote on the legalization bill that was initially planned in December\u00a0was ultimately called off amid concerns from SPD leaders<\/a>. Now it\u2019s expected to reach the floor on Friday following committee consideration, with lawmakers taking up votes for second and third reading of the legislation for final passage.<\/p>\n Lawmakers had already delayed their first debate on the legislation, which was ultimately\u00a0held in October,<\/a>\u00a0ostensibly\u00a0due to the conflict in Israel and Palestine<\/a>. They also\u00a0pushed back a vote scheduled for November<\/a>\u00a0as supporters worked on improvements to the bill.<\/p>\n At a meeting in December, the health minister took questions from members, some of whom oppose legalization. At several points, he\u00a0pushed back against lawmakers who suggested that legalization would send the wrong message to youth<\/a>\u00a0and lead to increased underage consumption, saying their arguments \u201cmisrepresented\u201d the legislation.<\/p>\n Lawmakers had made a raft of adjustments to the bill<\/a>, mostly designed to loosen restrictions that faced opposition from advocates and supporters in the Bundestag. They included increasing home possession maximums and removing the possibility of jail time for possessing slightly more than the allowable limit.<\/p>\n The legislators further agreed to stagger the implementation of the reform, making possession and home cultivation legal for adults beginning in April. Social clubs that could distribute marijuana to members would open in July.<\/p>\n Officials are eventually planning to introduce a complementary second measure that would establish pilot programs for commercial sales in cities throughout the country. That legislation is expected to be unveiled after its submitted to the European Commission for review.<\/p>\n The health minister responded to early criticism of the bill from medical and law enforcement groups by emphasizing that\u00a0the reform would be coupled with a \u201cmajor campaign\u201d<\/a>\u00a0to educate the public about the risks of using cannabis.<\/p>\n While Germany\u2019s Federal Cabinet approved the initial framework for a legalization measure in late 2022, the government also said it\u00a0wanted to get signoff from the EU<\/a>\u00a0to ensure that enacting the reform wouldn\u2019t put them in violation of their international obligations.<\/p>\n The framework was the product of months of review and negotiations within the German administration and the traffic light coalition government. Officials\u00a0took a first step toward legalization in 2022<\/a>, kicking off a series of hearings meant to help inform legislation to end prohibition in the country.<\/p>\n Government officials from multiple countries, including the U.S., also met in Germany last November to\u00a0discuss international marijuana policy issues<\/a>\u00a0as the host nation works to enact legalization.<\/p>\n A group of German lawmakers, as well as Narcotics Drugs Commissioner Burkhard Blienert, separately\u00a0visited the U.S. and toured California cannabis businesses<\/a>\u00a0in 2022 to inform their country\u2019s approach to legalization.<\/p>\n The visit came after top officials from Germany, Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands\u00a0held a first-of-its-kind meeting to discuss plans and challenges<\/a>\u00a0associated with recreational marijuana legalization.<\/p>\n Leaders of the coalition government said in 2021 that they had\u00a0reached an agreement to end cannabis prohibition<\/a>\u00a0and enact regulations for a legal industry, and they first\u00a0previewed certain details of that plan<\/a>\u00a0last year.<\/p>\n A novel international survey that was released last year\u00a0found majority support for legalization<\/a>\u00a0in several key European countries, including Germany.<\/p>\n Justice Department Researcher Says \u2018We May Need Better Tests\u2019 For Marijuana Impairment, Questioning \u2018Per Se\u2019 THC Limits For Driving<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Key German Committee Approves Marijuana Legalization Bill Ahead Of Floor Vote, But Questions Emerge On Implementation Timeline<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A key committee in Germany\u2019s Bundestag has approved a bill to legalize marijuana, setting the stage for floor consideration and final votes on Friday. But there are new questions about whether the law will actually take effect in April as planned. The Health Committee, a central body of jurisdiction forContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72667"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72667"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72668,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72667\/revisions\/72668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
Der Gesundheitsausschuss hat dem #CanG<\/a> mit allen \u00c4nderungsantr\u00e4gen zugestimmt.
Next Step: 2\/3 Lesung am Freitag pic.twitter.com\/Jq29y8DmAO<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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\nRead More: Key German Committee Approves Marijuana Legalization Bill Ahead Of Floor Vote, But Questions Emerge On Implementation Timeline<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"