CSU leader Markus Söder and Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach trade barbs over current government drug policy – which goes viral on German Twitter

It all began so innocently. Markus Söder, the leader of the “opposition” to the current parties comprising the Traffic Light Coalition, threw a weighted barb at the government’s drug policy during the CDU party congress in Hanover last weekend. Söder claimed that the legalization of cannabis would automatically lead to the legalization of drugs such as crystal methamphetamine (a highly addictive and dangerous street drug).

There were two problems with the approach. The first is that one of the parties now making up the coalition government, the Greens, did call for the legalization of “party drugs,” specifically cocaine, ecstasy, and amphetamines – but not crystal meth – in August. This is, however, not in the platform of the Traffic Light Coalition – which is only planning to legalize cannabis. A draft bill is expected to be made public either at the end of this year or early in 2023.

The second however, no doubt prompted by the above inaccuracies, was that Söder mispronounced the name of the drug – and instead, referred to the drug as “crystal mett.”

And this set off a rapid fire, and often humorous response.

Social Media Mockery

It was not only Lauterbach who mocked the mispronouncement on Twitter. His response? “Despite the scathing criticism from Markus Söder that the legalization of cannabis promotes the use of Crystal-Mett, we will not slow down on the same. At least vegetarians will remain safe.” Lauterbach was making a pun connecting the mispronunciation of the name of the drug to the German word for a chopped raw meat spread, frequently served with onions on bread.

This in turn set off an imaginative interchange where German Twitter users posted multiple pictures of what a “meat drug” might look like – or how it might be consumed.

Crystal Mett. Der richtig harte Stoff pic.twitter.com/ds02CE50Ya

— KarstenSt (@StKarsten) September 5, 2022

This particularly imaginative response showing an addict applying heat to a spoonful of the referenced meat spread and then injecting it directly into his veins is entitled “The really hard stuff.”

The responses – both from the Health Minister and the Twitterverse seem to reflect the fact that Germans are rapidly warming to the idea of recreational cannabis reform – especially as the majority of the country is behind medical use.

This is a very good sign for the passage of full cannabis legalization sometime in the next 18-24 months aus Deutschland.

Germany is in the midst of a cannabis legalization effort that is more complicated and robust than anything that has ever occurred since the dawn of cannabis prohibition so many decades ago. After the dust settled on Germany’s last federal election in 2021, the incoming coalition government announced plans to move Germany toward launching a regulated adult-use cannabis industry. The current governing German coalition, commonly referred to as the ‘Traffic Light Coalition,’ has worked since late 2021 to explore various public policy components of legalization. According to the results of a new poll from Ipsos, a strong majority of Germans support the effort.

Per Ipsos‘ news release announcing the results of the poll, “61 percent of those surveyed say they would support the controlled sale of cannabis in licensed stores. Only 39 percent consider the plans to legalize cannabis to be irresponsible and fundamentally reject legal sale and consumption.” The survey was conducted online between September 2 and 4, 2022, and involved 1,000 eligible voters between the ages of 18 and 75 in Germany.

Diving Into The Results

Fortunately, there’s majority support for legalization among all age categories (18-75), however, there are statistical differences between age groups. While 61% of the poll’s participants support adult-use cannabis legalization, roughly 55% of people aged 60-75 were supportive. That is quite a bit less than the level of support among poll participants that were aged 18-39 (65%). Sixty two percent of poll participants aged 40-59 years old expressed support for legalization.

The level of support for cannabis legalization does not extend to the legalization of other banned substances in Germany. When poll participants were asked if other substances should be legalized in addition to cannabis, 95% of people expressed opposition to such a public policy change. The overwhelming level of opposition was found across age groups, although younger poll participants were more likely to express support for further legalization compared to older poll participants.

Not An Easy Lift

The current general consensus for when regulated adult-use products will actually be available for legal purchase in Germany seems to be by the year 2025. After the results of the 2021 federal election in Germany became final there was hope for legalization to become a reality in 2022. However, time has proven that hope to be a bit too ambitious.

The fact of the matter is that what German lawmakers and regulators are trying to do is something that has never been done before, at least not at the same scale. Sure, Canada and Uruguay have implemented legal adult-use sales, yet those markets pale in comparison to the size and complexity of Germany’s market. Germany has a much larger population compared to Canada and Uruguay combined, and Germany’s geographical location makes things that much more complex to navigate.

I am personally hopeful that there will be multiple steps to implementing legalization in Germany. After all, there is no need to wait for sales regulations to be formulated before implementing personal possession, consumption, and cultivation provisions. Clearly, cannabis prohibition is a failed public policy in Germany and it would be wise for lawmakers to implement as many legalization provisions as possible that pertain to individual consumers prior to finalizing provisions geared towards regulated sales.