Few places on earth, if any, have as long and as storied of a history with cannabis consumption as the Netherlands. Amsterdam, which was home to the Cannabis Cup international competition for many years, has served as a top international cannabis tourist destination for decades.
Yet, as many parts of the world have successfully modernized their cannabis policies, the Netherlands has lagged behind on such reforms in many ways. Much of the cannabis industry in the Netherlands is still unregulated, with many of the nation’s famed cannabis cafes operating in a legal gray area at best.
According to a recent poll, a strong majority of residents in the Netherlands want to install regulations around the country’s cannabis industry, rather than letting the status quo remain. Per NL Times:
Six in ten Netherlands residents believe that the production, supply, and sale of cannabis and hashish should be legal. It is currently prohibited to grow cannabis, and growers are also not allowed to supply coffee shops, but the government tolerates the sale. Only 11 percent believe this current policy works well and nothing needs to change. That is the conclusion of Kieskompas and ANP based on a survey completed by over 6,000 Dutch people.
In almost all provinces, a majority is in favor of legalization. That group is the largest in Groningen and Flevoland, at around 70 percent. People from Drenthe and Zeeland are the least likely to favor legalization and are also the most likely to think that weed should not be tolerated at all.
Limited regional adult-use cannabis commerce trials are currently in operation in the Netherlands. Such trials permit a limited number of consumers, cultivators, and retailers to conduct cannabis production and purchases. The trials in the Netherlands first launched in December 2023 after a long delay.
For a time earlier this year, it appeared that the trials in the Netherlands would be halted, if not eliminated. However, such proposals have failed to materialize so far. Trials were approved in the Netherlands in Breda, Tilburg, Arnhem, Almere, Groningen, Heerlen, Hellevoetsluis, Maastricht, Nijmegen, and Zaanstad.
A proposal to expand the cannabis trials to include the Amsterdam-Oost district was recently denied by members of the Netherlands Parliament.
In June 2022, Thailand modernized its cannabis policies to permit adult-use cannabis cultivation and possession in instances involving cannabis varieties that are low in THC. As recently as February of this year, Thailand was expected to go backward on its cannabis policies and re-prohibit all forms of recreational cannabis cultivation and use.
When Thailand reformed its cannabis policies back in 2022, it was a monumental shift for a nation that is located in a region that has long been home to some of the harshest cannabis penalties on earth, including nations that still issue the death penalty for cannabis-only offenses.
At the time of Thailand’s policy shift, the measure was hailed as an amazing achievement for the global cannabis reform movement, with cannabis being removed from Thailand’s list of banned substances.
Thailand’s new approach involved permitting every household in the entire country to sign up to legally cultivate low-THC cannabis plants. There were no plant limits for the government’s cultivation program when it launched, and Thailand’s government even gave away over 1 million cannabis seeds directly to households that signed up.
A broad spectrum of government agencies in Thailand agreed leading up to the implementation to do their part to push Thailand’s emerging cannabis industry forward. Thailand also released thousands of people serving time for cannabis offenses. That all changed in August 2023 when a new prime minister was elected, with the new incumbent vocally opposing cannabis reform.
Members of Thailand’s government have changed their tone about plans for changes to the nation’s cannabis law, although the future result seems to likely be the same. Per excerpts from The Nation:
Public Health Minister Cholnan Srikaew said the government will soon pass a bill that ensures marijuana is used for medical and health purposes only.
Cholnan made this comment on Tuesday to apparently correct Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, who recently told an online news site that his government will be putting marijuana back on the list of narcotics.
Putting marijuana back on the narcotics list would spark conflicts between coalition leader Pheu Thai and key partner Bhumjaithai.
The rhetoric being thrown around in Thailand is confusing, and largely seems to involve political semantics. If a measure is passed in Thailand that bans recreational cannabis use and limits cannabis to approved medical use only, it will further shut down what was rapidly becoming a thriving industry in Thailand. Only time will tell if/when that proves to be the case.
Germany shares more borders with other countries than any other nation in the European Union. Germany, which recently legalized cannabis for adult use, shares borders with Austria, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, France, Luxembourg, Denmark, Poland, Switzerland, and Belgium.
Every one of those countries is presumably re-evaluating its own cannabis policies now that Germany has legalized cannabis. Lawmakers in the Czech Republic had previously indicated that it would follow Germany’s lead and pursue adult-use reform. Unfortunately, Austria is one of Germany’s neighbors that is taking a different approach.
Rather than get on the right side of history and end cannabis prohibition enforcement against personal consumers, Austria’s government is reportedly ramping up its efforts to enforce cannabis prohibition at checkpoints along its border with Germany.
On April 1, 2024, Germany’s cannabis laws changed from prohibiting cannabis for recreational use to permitting adults to cultivate, possess, and consume cannabis. People 18 years old and older are allowed to cultivate up to three plants in a private residence and possess up to 25 grams of cannabis in Germany. Selling cannabis to other consumers remains prohibited, as does public cannabis use.
In reaction to Germany’s policy change, Austria is planning to institute a heightened focus on cannabis prohibition enforcement at checkpoints along the Austria-Germany border.
“The police will conduct intensified checks, particularly in areas near the border, to take addictive substances and drivers under the influence of drugs out of circulation,” Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said in a statement according to the Associated Press. “This is about the protection of all road users.”
Minister Karner also indicated that law enforcement officers in ‘plain clothes’ and impairment recognition specialists from regional transport departments will be deployed at checkpoint areas as part of the stepped-up enforcement effort.
If history is any guide, clinging to prohibition is going to continue to be a failed strategy in Austria. To be clear, no responsible cannabis consumer is encouraging anyone to drive impaired, nor is anyone recommending that consumers try to smuggle banned substances across borders.
What reasonable, sensible people are recommending is that Austria remove consumers’ incentive to seek cannabis from unregulated sources, whether it be from inside or outside of Austria, by modernizing the nation’s cannabis policies to permit adult-use cannabis activities.
Cannabis is now legal to cultivate in Malta, Luxembourg, and Germany, as well as in Uruguay, Canada, and many parts of the United States. Court decisions in Mexico, Italy, and South Africa also provide some level of protection for personal cultivation.
In addition to private cultivation, Germany will soon permit noncommercial cannabis clubs to operate, similar to what is already in place in Uruguay and Malta. Germany will also eventually launch regional adult-use cannabis commerce pilot programs, similar to what is already operating in Switzerland and the Netherlands, but presumably on a much larger scale.
Momentum for reform is picking up in many parts of the globe, with Europe being particularly active. The writing is on the wall for cannabis prohibition on the European continent, and Austria would be wise to modernize its cannabis policies and then re-allocate public resources that are currently directed towards enforcing failed prohibition.
For many long-time cannabis consumers and medical patients, there are few things as rewarding as cultivating a personal amount of cannabis. Historically, legal home cultivation was just a seemingly far-off dream for many adults in Germany, however, home cultivation is now legal for people 18 and older in Europe’s largest economy thanks to the tireless efforts of German cannabis advocates.
Legalization in Germany involves various provisions, including the right to cultivate three plants in a private residence. Adults can now possess up to 25 grams of personal cannabis while away from home in Germany, and up to 50 grams at their residence.
Another important facet of Germany’s new cannabis law involves lower penalties (administrative offense) for people caught possessing slightly more than the permitted limit.
While it is difficult to know exactly how many adults will choose to cultivate cannabis at home in Germany, Canada does provide some insight. Canada legalized home cultivation in 2018, and as of September 2022, an estimated 9% of Canadian consumers reported cultivating cannabis at home.
According to official statistics from 2021, an estimated 8.8% of adults in Germany aged 18-64 reported that they had consumed cannabis at least once in the last 12 months. Applying an 8.8% estimated consumer rate to Germany’s adult population and then applying a 9% home cultivation rate to that consumer base works out to over half a million people who would be expected to cultivate their own cannabis in Germany.
With that many people cultivating cannabis, certain sectors and products of Germany’s cannabis industry are going to explode, including but not limited to grow tents, grow lights, containers, grow mediums, nutrients, odor control temperature control, harvesting equipment, drying equipment, and storage technology. Service companies that specialize in energy efficiency will presumably experience increased demand.
The explosion in home cultivation product demand that is now underway in Germany will inevitably be met with a flood of products and services from innovative entrepreneurs and inventors. The best of those products will then have the potential to expand to an international market as legalization spreads across Europe and the rest of the globe.
The ‘ripple effect’ of Germany’s new cultivation freedoms will be felt around the world.
Demand for cannabis seeds and clones is going to be enormous in Germany going forward. Companies that specialize in providing quality cannabis genetics, both in Germany and the rest of Europe, are virtually guaranteed to see a spike in business.
The boost in home cultivation will result in more quality cannabis being consumed in Germany, and that, in turn, will boost demand for fun and unique ways to consume homegrown cannabis. As such, top companies that specialize in consumption gadgets and devices should experience an ancillary boost as well.
Germany’s emerging home cultivation sector will be a popular topic at the upcoming International Cannabis Business Conference in Berlin, which is taking place later this month on April 16th and 17th. The event will be the first major cannabis event in Germany after legalization took effect. A limited number of tickets are still available.
Register today for the historic event before the conference sells out.
It’s official – with the clock striking midnight in Germany, and the date changing from March 31st to April 1st, the nation’s new adult-use cannabis legalization policy has become the law of the land. Adults (18 years old and older) in Germany may now partake in the newly established freedoms created by the implementation of the first pillar of the CanG law.
“It was time to initiate a paradigm shift in drug policy, ending the failed prohibition policy of the last hundred years.” stated Kai-Friedrich Niermann, leading attorney at KFN+ Law Office, about the historic change in Germany’s cannabis policies.
Germany is not the first country to have passed a national adult-use cannabis legalization measure, however, legalization in Germany is the most significant national policy change of its type since the start of global cannabis prohibition many decades ago. Below are the most noteworthy provisions of Germany’s new cannabis law that consumers and patients should know about.
Narcotics De-listing
Cannabis is being removed from Germany’s Narcotics List now that the new law is implemented, and the significance of that policy change cannot be overstated. One thing that may not be on everyone’s radar, but should be, is that the de-listing of cannabis in Germany will improve safe access for medical cannabis patients by removing some hurdles in the medical cannabis supply chain and streamlining processes for pharmacies. Cannabis research will be easier to pursue, and hopefully academic institutions will begin to receive national and/or EU-provided funds for specific research projects.
Historically, the cultivation of medical cannabis in Germany was regulated by a licensing procedure, with the nation’s Federal Office for Drugs and Medical Devices making the final determination on the quantity and price of domestically produced medical cannabis. Imports were not subject to the same process, and that provided a huge advantage to companies based outside of Germany. Germany’s new adult-use cannabis law should provide a tremendous boost to the domestic medical industry.
Personal Cultivation
The main initial way for adults to legally source cannabis in Germany once the new law takes effect is to cultivate it in their homes. Adults will be able to cultivate up to three plants in private for personal use according to the proposed measure. Personal cannabis cultivation is popular in other jurisdictions where it is permitted, including in jurisdictions where consumers have other options from which to legally source their cannabis like storefronts.
It’s virtually guaranteed that many adult consumers in Germany will choose to cultivate their cannabis, and that will, in turn, create massive opportunities overnight for companies that specialize in cultivation-related products and services such as seeds, grow lights, plant nutrients, harvesting equipment, odor control, and drying equipment. Cannabis seeds and clones are legal in Germany now, including for adults who are not citizens of Germany.
Personal Possession
In addition to being able to cultivate cannabis, adults in Germany are now permitted to possess a personal amount of cannabis (up to 25 grams). In addition to the expressed legal possession limit, penalties for possessing slightly more than the legal threshold will be considered an ‘administrative violation’ in Germany rather than a criminal offense yielding jail time.
According to a 2021 report from Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf, Germany will save an estimated 1.05 billion euros annually by no longer enforcing cannabis prohibition, in addition to judicial savings of 313 million euros per year.
Cannabis Clubs
Another component of Germany’s new law involves permitting the launch and operation of noncommercial cannabis clubs. Clubs are currently expected to start on July 1, 2024. Membership-based noncommercial clubs, from which adult consumers can legally source their cannabis, will be subjected to various regulations. Seeds and clones are expected to be largely sourced from noncommercial clubs once they launch.
One of the sticking points leading up to the recently reported final coalition agreement was the implementation of noncommercial clubs, and part of the coalition’s compromise was to stagger the implementation date. After the launch, non-commercial clubs will likely be common throughout most of Germany.
Future Policy Modernizations
The previously listed items are part of the ‘first phase’ of Germany’s legalization plan, often referred to as ‘the first pillar.’ The second phase/pillar involves the launch of regional adult-use cannabis commerce pilot programs, like what is already in place in the Netherlands and Switzerland, but on a significantly larger scale. Advocates will need to work extra hard in the coming months to ensure that Germany’s legalization launch is a success.
“The most interesting questions are now how the law will be applied in practice and whether, shortly after entering into force, it will be amended to keep up with the minister’s promises. The development of the coming weeks will be of great interest to the cultivation associations, which may have to adjust their intended organizational setup.” stated Peter Homberg of leading international law firm Dentons (see Peter’s full interview in the embedded podcast video below).
“There is still a long way to go before complete destigmatization and fair legalization are achieved. Neither the consumers, nor the activists, nor the industry must let up on this path, but must continue to do everything in their power every day to ensure that this path can be taken successfully.” stated Kai Friedrich Niermann of KFN+ Law Office.
In a regulated cannabis market, products undergo stringent testing to ensure that they are suitable for human consumption. Cannabis products are properly labeled in regulated markets and they are subjected to inventory tracking requirements.
Cannabis, like nearly every commercially available consumable product on earth, will be deemed to be unsuitable for human consumption from time to time. Regulations help ensure that such products do not make it to retail shelves, and in the limited instances when it happens, recall protocols are in place. None of that is true for the unregulated market.
A recent analysis was performed in Canada that examined heavy metal contamination rates in cannabis vape pen cartridges. The analysis involved cartridges that originated from the regulated market as well as samples that came from the unregulated market. Below is more information about the analysis via a news release from NORML:
Ontario, Canada: The use of certain cannabis vape cartridges may result in heavy metal exposure, according to an analysis of products available in the Canadian marketplace. The findings were presented at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society.
Canadian scientists analyzed 41 products for heavy metals, including lead, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury. Several of the liquids in vape cartridges tested positive for metal contamination. In some instances, nano-sized particles were present prior to the products’ heating mechanism being turned on – suggesting that metal contaminants may be produced during the production process rather than during the products’ use.
Products obtained from unregulated producers were more likely than legally regulated products to contain elevated levels of heavy metals.
The findings are consistent with US data reporting that the use of some commercially available cannabis e-liquid devices may result in exposure to unwanted metals, including copper, nickel, and lead.
Third-party testing of unregulated delta-8 products and CBD vape cartridges has also identified the presence of heavy metals, including arsenic, chromium, and mercury.
Germany’s Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner is pushing back on cannabis opponents in Germany, particularly Saxony-Anhalt’s Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff, stating that cannabis legalization “does not lead to chaos.”
Members of Germany’s Bundestag voted in February to approve a national adult-use cannabis legalization measure. The measure was then considered by the nation’s Bundesrat this month. Members of the Bundesrat refrained from referring the measure to a mediation committee which paved the way for the law to take effect on April 1, 2024.
Saxony-Anhalt’s Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff is part of a small group of domestic lawmakers in Germany that have tried to prevent cannabis policy modernization from happening in Europe’s largest economy and have lobbed various unfounded doomsday predictions about German legalization. It is a common tactic for opponents in jurisdictions that have adopted legalization measures.
“The focus, at least for me, is not on the right to be intoxicated. It’s about overcoming an unsatisfactory situation like we currently have – namely that millions of people consume cannabis on the black market and without any health education.” stated Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner according to Zeit Online about opponents’ expressed concerns. “We can’t leave everything in a black or gray area. And that’s why this regulation is responsible.”
Currently, adult-use cannabis is legal in Uruguay, Canada, Malta, and Luxembourg where lawmakers have passed national measures. In all of those jurisdictions, no significant adverse impacts on society have been reported.
Conversely, legalization is achieving many predetermined goals in those jurisdictions, including reducing the burden on those countries’ taxpayers by no longer enforcing failed prohibition.
According to a 2021 report from Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf, Germany will save 1.05 billion euros annually by no longer enforcing cannabis prohibition, in addition to judiciary savings of 313 million euros per year.
German Bundesrat President Manuela Schwesig signed the nation’s legalization legislation on Wednesday, which served as the last procedural step before the law’s enactment. Starting on Monday, adults in Germany will be allowed to cultivate up to three plants in their private residences, as well as possess and consume cannabis for recreational purposes.
Additionally, cannabis will be removed from Germany’s Narcotics Law, which is going to provide a significant boost to Germany’s emerging medical cannabis program. Medical cannabis patients will be some of the biggest winners of the upcoming policy change, as it will significantly boost safe access to cannabis.
Historically, patients in Germany have had to go through the process of being approved by a physician to legally access cannabis products for medical purposes. As of April 1st, adult patients will be able to cultivate their own cannabis without having to prove that they suffer from a qualifying condition, and soon, they will also be able to join a cannabis club from which to legally source their cannabis.
Ireland adopted a medical cannabis policy reform measure back in 2019, however, it took many years for patients to be permitted to safely access medical cannabis therapeutics in the European country.
Medical cannabis policy modernization efforts have spread across the globe in recent decades, with many countries adopting medical cannabis policies and regulations that are more or less strict than others.
Ireland’s medical cannabis program is much more restrictive compared to other nations, including nations in Europe, and that is reflected in the low number of patients that have received approval in recent years. Per Independent:
Around 53 people have been approved to take medical cannabis in recent years with the number of conditions it can treat likely to be increased.
In a parliamentary response to Independent TD Violet-Anne Wynne, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said the purpose of the programme was to enable compassionate access to cannabis for medical reasons, where conventional treatment has failed.
Mr Donnelly said: “It follows the clear pathway laid out by the Health Products Regulatory Authority in their expert report ‘Cannabis for Medical Use – A Scientific Review’.”
Medical cannabis programs are only as good as the number of qualifying conditions that patients can qualify for, and Ireland limits the program to spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis, intractable nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy, and severe, treatment-resistant epilepsy.
Even in instances in which a patient suffers from one or more of those conditions, they can only be approved to seek medical cannabis therapies in Ireland after they have exhausted all other prescribed medications and treatment regimens.
Canada became the second country on earth to pass a national adult-use cannabis legalization measure back in 2018. The only other country to have done so prior to Canada was Uruguay, which passed its own national adult-use cannabis legalization measure in 2013.
Since 2018, three other nations have passed a national adult-use cannabis legalization measure – Malta in 2021, Luxembourg in 2023, and Germany this year. The first provisions of Germany’s legalization measure are set to go into effect on April 1, 2024.
Canada, for the time being, represents the biggest cannabis public policy experiment to date, and there is a lot that other governments can learn from Canada’s experience. As part of Canada’s legalization effort, various ministers were tasked with providing a final report in conjunction with an independent Expert Panel.
“This final report is the result of the extensive work conducted by the independent Expert Panel, chaired by Morris Rosenberg, that led the review over the last 18 months. The report provides an independent assessment on progress made towards achieving the Act’s objectives to protect the health and safety of Canadians and displace the illegal market.” Health Canada stated in a news release.
“Since the launch of the review in September 2022, the Expert Panel engaged extensively with a wide range of cannabis stakeholders to better understand the impacts of the cannabis legislative framework and the challenges and opportunities that exist within the sector. The panel held nearly 140 engagement sessions and heard from over 600 participants. They met with the public, other levels of government, people who access cannabis for medical purposes, youth, the cannabis industry, law enforcement, marginalized and racialized communities, and public health experts. They also undertook distinctions-based engagement activities with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis to further understand the impacts of cannabis and the Cannabis Act on Indigenous persons and communities.” Health Canada also stated.
The report’s compilers found that Canada has made significant progress on several of the government’s ‘key objectives’ of its legalization effort, including:
the establishment of a licensing framework supporting a legal industry that is providing adult consumers with a quality-controlled supply of a variety of cannabis products
steady progress in shifting adult consumers to the legal cannabis market
for the most part, adherence to rules on promotion, packaging and labelling, including prohibitions about making claims about health or lifestyle benefits
a significant reduction (95% between 2017 and 2022) in the number of charges for the possession of cannabis and minimizing the negative impact on some individuals from interactions with the criminal justice system
The final report identifies 54 recommendations and 11 observations that its authors have determined will strengthen and improve Canada’s cannabis policies and regulations. Additionally, Statistics Canada recently found that 72% of consumers in Canada report making their cannabis purchases from the regulated market.
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