As of: March 28, 2024, 9:07 a.m
By: Sarah El Sheimy
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The CSU is opposed to the new law legalizing cannabis. Bavaria's Health Minister Gerlach does not want to give up hope for a lawsuit.
Munich – From Monday (April 1st), the cultivation, consumption, possession and purchase of cannabis will be legal in Germany under certain conditions. After the Federal Council's approval, Bavaria's Health Minister Judith Gerlach wants to examine a lawsuit against the law again. Strict controls are already planned in the Free State for the period after the law comes into force.
“Bavaria is examining the documents in detail to see whether there is scope for a lawsuit,” the
dpa
quoted CSU politician Gerlach as saying. The “documents” are the final version of the law and the new protocol statement from the federal government. Just two weeks ago, after an initial examination, Gerlach doubted whether a lawsuit would be possible for the Free State, both in Germany and at the European level.
Cultivation and consumption of cannabis will be permitted under certain circumstances from April. (Symbolic image) © Mazuryk Mykola/Imago
Audit of cannabis cultivation associations: CSU plans control unit
In any case, the Free State is preparing for strict controls, said Gerlach, according to the
dpa
. A central control unit is being created in the State Office for Health and Food Safety for issuing permits from growing associations and their controls. There are 20 new positions for the unit. Gerlach said they will check the growing associations at least once a quarter and proceed in a restrictive manner. In addition, it is planned to carry out checks on an event-related basis and to work closely with the police.
The police union in Bavaria recently sharply criticized the cannabis law and described the Federal Council's approval as a "gross mistake and a major challenge for the police, judiciary, youth welfare offices and the entire health system". Increased consumption, a larger black market and threats to traffic are expected. The union also lacks a uniform action plan for the police.
Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann also sees hurdles in implementing the law: "It is particularly unreasonable for the police to have to control this ill-thought-out mass of regulations, to the extent that it can be controlled at all," said Herrmann. That is why the new regulations for cannabis in Bavaria would be controlled “as strictly as possible”.
Bavaria is determined to take a stand against the dangerous consumption of cannabis, says Health Minister Judith Gerlach (CSU). © Sven Hoppe/dpa
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Cannabis lawsuit from Bavaria – Union Interior Ministers also want to go to court
It's not just in the Free State that there are plans to take the new law to court. The interior ministers of the Union parties across Germany also want to examine a lawsuit - Bavaria's Interior Minister Herrmann is one of them. However, like Health Minister Gerlach, he admitted even before the Federal Council's approval that it was not an easy question to take the whole thing to court.
There is criticism in the ranks of the traffic light coalition of the drug policy statements from Bavaria. “The CSU currently likes to pretend that there are no drugs at all in Bavaria,” said the FDP’s drug policy spokeswoman, Kristine Lütke, in an interview with
IPPEN.MEDIA
. She expressed incomprehension about the planned control unit: The Bavarian government could invest the planned costs of around six million euros elsewhere, for example for prevention measures, subsidies for hospitals, and investments in education policy.
(ses/dpa)