Germany being the EU’s largest economy and its most populated country, the decision to legalize cannabis in April 2024 has been of great interest and has been closely monitored by Germany’s neighbors.
Germany is part of the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, which restricts any form of cannabis commercialization. In an attempt to avoid pushback from Brussels, Germany legalized the possession and consumption, but, in its current phase, has not yet created a legal avenue for the commercialization of cannabis.
Phase two will allow for this, but there is no expectation of when this will be implemented, so the only legal ways to obtain cannabis are via a doctor’s prescription (infinitely easier to obtain one than before April 1st 2024), growing it yourself or by being part of a cannabis association which is allowed to grow cannabis and share the harvest with its members.
Brussels hasn’t shown any sign of wanting to push back, Germany’s lawmakers don’t seem interested in walking back on the new freedoms and early studies don’t raise any alarms
More than two years after legalization various studies have looked back to the impact on consumption and on the illegal market. Wastewater analysis by the EU Drugs Agency's (EUDA) and the German AMoCan/Ekocan have concluded that the concentration of cannabis metabolite (THC-COOH) has not increased since the law went live. This is probably the strongest signal of the overall impact of the law on society as it does not rely on surveys, but is based on hard data.
Data from various surveys have however confirmed the wastewater analysis results. Consumption of cannabis among minors is stable, with some surveys even indicating that there might be a slight drop. Consumption in young adults aged 18-25 (especially among men) is instead on the rise, but this is consistent with previous trends and could be indication of the lower stigma on reporting this rather than an actual increase. However, if the increase were confirmed, it would mean that consumption in older age groups has decreased.
Hospital data has also shown no increase in cannabis-related emergency room admissions, but it is probably too early to celebrate as some of the most common hospitalization causes, acute anxiety and panic attacks, usually take longer to develop as these depend on longer periods of consumption.
Peter Hilton CC BY-NC-SA 2.0The effect on the illegal market is still minimal. Cannabis-related crimes have dropped dramatically, but this is due to possession no longer being a crime rather than a sign that criminal organizations are weakening. Recreational cannabis associations have not been growing at the expected pace and the fact that there is no legal alternative to the illicit market means that recreational consumers still have to rely on their old dealers to procure cannabis.
On a positive note, the price of cannabis has been uncharacteristically stable since the legalization, while other drugs, like cocaine and methamphetamine have instead experienced steep price increases. Unfortunately it’s too early to conclude that this is an effect of the CanG laws.
Although Luxemburg and Malta were the first European countries to legalize the possession and consumption of cannabis, Germany’s economic power and population size make the German experiment much more relevant than anything which came before, even of the Dutch decades-long experiment.
In the over two years since the CanG laws went live Brussels hasn’t shown any sign of wanting to push back, Germany’s lawmakers don’t seem interested in walking back on the new freedoms and early studies don’t raise any alarms. We can be cautiously optimistic.
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