Germany’s future ruling coalition plans to place marijuana sales under government control, Handelsblatt reported, citing a draft coalition agreement. Nowadays it is possible to buy drugs in the country only for medicinal purposes with a doctor’s prescription.
The Social Democratic Party, Greens and the Free Democratic Party want to allow the sale of cannabis to adults in licensed stores. To obtain a license, two conditions will be provided – a quality control guarantee and a ban on the sale of products to persons under 18 years of age. The social consequences of the adoption of the law are planned to be assessed in 4 years.
The authors of the initiative believe that in this way it is possible to control the quality of marijuana, test it for the presence of harmful impurities, reduce the black market for this drug, and also get new sources of tax revenue. The annual turnover of the illegal cannabis market in Germany is at least 2 billion euros, the newspaper writes.
According to economist Justus Haukap, the combined effect of tax revenues and savings on criminal prosecution of drug users for the German budget could amount to 4.7 billion euros per year.
At the same time, Germany is a member of the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, which bans the import and export of cannabis. Thus, Germany will have to grow marijuana on its territory.
Currently, marijuana is fully legalized in only two countries – Uruguay and Canada. The drug is partially licensed in 30 countries, as well as in a number of US states.
.