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Berlin – Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) has defended the partial legalization of cannabis in the Bundestag, which has been in effect since April. The Union again announced that it would reverse the release when it leads the next government.

“It’s about making existing consumption safer,” said Lauterbach today in a current hour at the request of the Union faction. He spoke of a “law that deserved a chance”. The cannabis law must be viewed “without polemics and malice”.

But the minister also admitted that the law was “controversial”. But the sharp increase in consumption in Germany in recent years has made this necessary. “Cannabis is everywhere,” Lauterbach said. “If you walk through the streets in the evening, you can see it and you can smell it,” Lauterbach said.

The minister pointed out that cannabis consumption had not only increased, but had also become more dangerous due to higher doses and “toxic admixtures”. It’s about “making existing consumption safer” but not criminalizing it, said Lauterbach. “The person who consumes every now and then and is aware of the risks” is no more criminal than someone “who drinks a bottle of wine every evening”.

CSU MP Silke Schwanzert criticized the law for having the opposite effect of what was intended. “They wanted to dry up the black market,” but “that couldn’t be achieved as screwed up as this law was,” said Schwanzert in the direction of Lauterbach. “The drug market is bigger than ever, bigger than the previous black market.” The coalition has “opened the gates for Dutch drug gangs.”

In the event that the Union leads the future government after the new federal election on February 23rd, Schwanzert announced that the law would be reversed. Cannabis release is “one of the most important issues to be rolled back,” she said. “There is nothing left but to show toughness.”

Kristine Lütke from the FDP, looking back, praised the fact that the traffic light coalition at the time “worked together trustingly and well” on the issue. Lütke criticized the Union for devoting energy to old prejudices against legalization “at a time when we urgently need to talk about solutions for Germany’s economic future.” Experiences in other countries have shown that the legalization of cannabis combats organized crime.

The Green politician Kirsten Kappert-Gonther questioned the Union, “that not a single problem in this country will be solved if you criminalize stoners again”. She described the cannabis law as a “decisive success of the traffic light”.

Before the reform, “the entire cannabis market was firmly in the hands of organized crime, including all the associated health risks,” she said. It is “a myth that consumption of cannabis increases after its release”.

The AfD health politician Martin Sichert told the Union that legalization could be viewed critically. But it’s crazy to act as if stoners were the most pressing internal security problem.

The traffic light government had passed the law for the partial legalization of cannabis, which has been in effect since April 1st. Possession and controlled cultivation for private use are permitted, but with numerous restrictions.

Consumption in public spaces is permitted to a limited extent – in the immediate presence of minors and near schools, daycare centers and sports facilities, for example, it is prohibited. The Union announced early on that it wanted to reverse the law.

In the fight against organized crime and drug trafficking, the Hamburg police have recently secured more money and valuables from suspects than ever before. Last year, almost 10.35 million euros were provisionally secured in connection with organized crime and around 4.26 million euros in connection with drug-related crime, the interior authorities in Hamburg said. Previously the radio station had NDR 90.3 reported.

The 14.6 million euros from 2023 are compared to 6.1 million euros in 2022, 10.14 million euros in 2021 and 3.4 million euros in 2020. The increased quantity is also due to the fact that significantly more cases were investigated for serious drug crimes and therefore there were more searches, arrests, convictions and seizures.

“The number of serious narcotics cases increased last year by almost 30 percent to 111, a new high,” said an authority spokesman. © afp/dpa/may/aerzteblatt.de