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Germany\u2019s government is moving forward with the second phase of marijuana legalization to create a pilot program for commercial sales\u2014through an administrative process, rather than having lawmakers pass a separate bill to enact the reform as was initially expected, according to a new press report.<\/p>\n
While it\u2019s long been assumed that legislators would need to introduce and pass complementary sales legislation to fulfill the second \u201cpillar\u201d of legalization, the federal government is apparently taking a rulemaking approach that may speed up implementation.<\/p>\n
Marijuana legalization was implemented under a bill that the Federal Ministry of Health spearheaded and went into effect at the beginning of last month. So adults are now able to possess and cultivate cannabis<\/a>, in addition to joining cooperatives that are expected to launch in July where they could access the plant. But there\u2019s currently no commercial framework for sales.<\/p>\n According to Tagesspiegel Background<\/a>, however, the law that\u2019s already in effect also provides regulatory discretion to build upon the initial reform. That is, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture is empowered to establish rules to create a commercial pilot program so adults can buy cannabis in certain jurisdictions without any additional legislative action.<\/p>\n Of course, that could also mean that any reform that\u2019s implemented could be more easily reversed by a future administration. But in the short-term, the process for sales could be expedited.<\/p>\n Agriculture officials have reportedly circulated a letter soliciting input on possible regulations to allow for retail sales under a pilot program, with comments due by May 10.<\/p>\n Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, who has led the government\u2019s cannabis legalization efforts, told members of the Bundestag in December that \u201cwe are currently examining\u201d the commercial sales plan. But with legalization in effect, there\u2019s been increased pressure to expedite that process<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Bundesrat representing individual states previously tried to block the now-enacted legalization proposal last September but ultimately failed<\/a>.<\/p>\n Despite that,\u00a0members of the Bundesrat ultimately reached a deal with Lauterbach<\/a>\u00a0and other government ministers and\u00a0declined to refer the cannabis legislation to a mediation committee<\/a>\u00a0that would have delayed implementation by six months.<\/p>\n \u2014 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 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 in 2022\u00a0found majority support for legalization<\/a>\u00a0in several key European countries, including Germany.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the United Nations\u2019s (UN) drug control body recently reiterated that it considers legalizing marijuana for non-medical or scientific purposes a violation of international treaties, though it also said it\u00a0appreciates that Germany\u2019s government scaled back its cannabis plan ahead of the recent vote<\/a>.<\/p>\n Former DEA Head Says Marijuana Rescheduling \u2018Reflects The Reality\u2019 Of Public Support For Reform<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis \/\/ Side Pocket Images.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Germany\u2019s Government Seeks To Launch Marijuana Sales Pilot Program Through Regulations Instead Of Another Bill, Report Says<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Germany\u2019s government is moving forward with the second phase of marijuana legalization to create a pilot program for commercial sales\u2014through an administrative process, rather than having lawmakers pass a separate bill to enact the reform as was initially expected, according to a new press report. While it\u2019s long been assumedContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":74929,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74928"}],"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=74928"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74928\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74930,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74928\/revisions\/74930"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Germany\u2019s Government Seeks To Launch Marijuana Sales Pilot Program Through Regulations Instead Of Another Bill, Report Says<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"