Legalization of Cannabis: Risk or Opportunity?

- Experts call for minimum age

Created: 2022-02-14Updated: 2022-02-14, 5:09 p.m

By: Verena Moeckl

Will cannabis soon be legal in Germany?

This question met with mixed feelings.

© Cavan Images/Imago

The traffic light coalition plans to legalize cannabis: is it a danger or an opportunity?

That's what a pharmacist, a drug commissioner, a politician and the police think.

Dachau – Cannabis is still forbidden.

But that could change soon.

The new traffic light government wants to legalize the drug.

Hemp was approved for medicinal purposes in 2017.

This could now also happen for pleasure purposes.

This is how the experts in Dachau stand by the decision.

Drug Advisor on Cannabis Legalization: "Minimum Age to 21"

"I don't think the ban on cannabis has stopped people from using it.

This hasn't reduced the number of people using the drug, so I don't think the numbers will skyrocket once cannabis is legalized.

For under 18-year-olds, however, I see legalization as problematic.

Because the brain is still in adolescence, i.e. developing.

Once the brain has matured, health-damaging consequences are significantly less to be expected.

If it were up to me, I would raise the legal age for marijuana and hash to 21.

This also applies to alcohol, which is at least as detrimental to the young brain.

Dachau's drug commissioner Sylvia Neumeier advocates a minimum age for cannabis.

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The drug counselor

Sylvia Neumeier is a city councilor in Dachau and head of the Dachau drug advice center Drobs.

I don't believe that legalization will increase our workload.

People who have difficulties with their consumption will continue to come to us for advice.

I think people are more willing to seek help if I know something isn't forbidden.

If the funds that have been used for the persecution so far flow into preventive work, I can definitely gain something positive from the legalization.

Enlightening is better than condemning.” -

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The pharmacist on the sale of cannabis: "In no way like chamomile tea in the drugstore"

"There are two hearts beating in one breast.

Legalization can dry up the black market and get many out of petty crime.

A defined quality and a regulated THC content can make consumption safer.

If I'm honest, I see legalization above all as a risk.

After all, you open it up to a broad spectrum – anyone could, who wanted to.

Therefore, under no circumstances should cannabis be sold in drugstores as if it were chamomile tea.

We need clear legal rules of the game.

Maximilian Lernbecher

The Dachau pharmacy spokesman Maximilian Lernbecher looks at the legalization of cannabis with mixed feelings.

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The pharmacist

Maximilian Lernbecher is a pharmacist in the upper pharmacy in Dachau and Dachau's pharmacist spokesman.

We need clear legal rules of the game: a minimum age of 25 and a limit on the THC content to control the high effect.

If the framework conditions are right, it is desired by society and it is compatible with my medical work as a pharmacist, then I have nothing against legalization.

Clean outlets instead of dingy coffee shops

The advantage of pharmacies as points of sale is that we have basic advisory knowledge.

We are trained when it comes to narcotics and already have certain certificates of entitlement.

However, the pharmacies alone will not be sufficient for nationwide supply.

If it becomes a social task, we will certainly be there.

But not at any price.

I won't let myself be mentioned in the same breath as a dingy coffee shop.

We would do it properly - with youth protection, training for cannabis sellers and regular narcotics controls - then there would also be a certain benefit for society.

In addition to an intoxicating effect, cannabis can also have a healing effect.” -

The police on the release of cannabis: "Fatal signal effect"

“Basically, the Bavarian police criticizes and rejects the release of recreational cannabis.

A release unfolds a fatal signal effect for adults on young people.

It may seem as if the drug isn't all that dangerous because it's legal to purchase.

However, cannabis consumption is hazardous to health.

A permanent loss of concentration, learning and performance can be feared.

Legalization can lower the inhibition threshold to consume cannabis.

'Certified sales outlets' and their environment could develop as a point of contact and contact initiation for drug addicts.

However, it remains to be seen to what extent the legalization of cannabis will have an impact on police work, especially since no concrete framework conditions for legalization are known at the moment.” -

County Council on Legalizing Marijuana and Hash: "All the Data Speaks For It"

Jonathan Westermeier is the district council candidate of the left.

For him, cannabis regulation is long overdue.

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The district council

Jonathan Westermeier is District Councilor Dachau for the Left/The Party and district chairman

“First of all, I'd rather talk about a regulated levy than legalizing cannabis.

It's not about introducing a new product, it's about regulating an existing market.

All data indicate that prohibition brings only disadvantages and cannot achieve any of the goals.

According to the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction, the legislation actually has no influence on consumption.

I believe that although there will be a short peak after legalization in which the number of users will increase, this will not be significant and will decrease again over time.

Native crop and ecological gain

There is one important aspect in the debate about the legalization of cannabis that has so far hardly been discussed in public: Cannabis is primarily a domestic crop.

We would have great ecological gains through regulation.

You can get thousands of products from the hemp plant and you don't need any pesticides.

Hemp plants also improve soils.

They can be used to make sustainable products, such as clothing, paper and even sustainable plastic.

So from the waste product that would result from legalization, we would have a large amount of new sustainable raw materials.

Decriminalization and regulation of cannabis

Another positive aspect of cannabis regulation is certainly decriminalization.

Punishing cannabis users brings only disadvantages and fulfills none of its goals.

In Germany we have 300,000 criminal prosecutions in connection with cannabis, which are completely pointless.

Entire life paths of young people are blocked from the outset because, for example, they have to give up their driver's license without consumption being related to it.

For me, the decriminalization and regulation of cannabis is a step that is long overdue.

Whether it comes to that depends on the will of the traffic light.” -

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More current news from the district of Dachau can be found here.

In Ebersberg, experts recently warned against the release.

A doctor came up with an entirely new solution to the cannabis legalization debate.