Cannabis fields the new hit?
Union attacks Özdemir - "Dupes farmers"
Created: 02/16/2022, 16:02
By: Andreas Schmid
Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir with a hemp plant.
The Green politician promotes the legalization of cannabis.
© Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa (archive image)
According to Cem Özdemir, farmers are already "in the starting blocks" for cannabis legalization.
The Union has now officially asked - and is outraged by the answer.
Munich - The new federal government wants to legalize the use of cannabis.
The Union, which is generally skeptical about legalization, takes a critical view of these plans.
According to the coalition agreement, the traffic light coalition is planning a “controlled sale of cannabis to adults for recreational purposes”.
So far, this is forbidden and only medicinal cannabis is allowed.
Legalization is intended to control quality, prevent the transfer of contaminated substances and ensure the protection of minors.
Arguments that support cannabis experts, although there is also criticism of the traffic light plans.
Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir (Greens) justified the legalization with Germany's farmers.
There are many who would like to grow hemp plants, Özdemir said in December.
The Union faction has now asked the federal government for specific figures in a small request.
The letter and the response from the federal government are available on
Merkur.de
.
Union criticizes Özdemir for cannabis plans: "Agricultural smokescreens" and "incense sticks"
The Union faction wanted to know how many farmers in Germany were willing to grow cannabis for recreational purposes.
Concrete numbers cannot be given, it says in the answer.
But: “German agriculture is open to legalization and sees new income opportunities in it.”
Overall, the answer from the federal government is quite brief.
Referring to the legislative process that has not yet been completed, a representative of the Ministry of Health left many of the Union's questions unanswered.
This annoys Albert Stegemann, the agricultural policy spokesman for the CDU and CSU parliamentary groups.
“The traffic light cannot provide any data, information or any ideas about their legalization plans.
Therefore, the federal government is essentially leaving the questions about hemp cultivation completely unanswered.”
Albert Stegemann has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2013.
Born in Lower Saxony, he is a farmer himself.
© Political Moments/Imago
Stegemann says: "Contrary to the announcements made by Federal Minister of Agriculture Özdemir, no farmers are 'in the starting blocks' to grow hemp." Özdemir chose this formulation in an interview with
Bild am Sonntag
at the end of December .
CDU politician Stegemann says: "Throwing agricultural policy smokescreens does not promote sustainable
and competitive agriculture in Germany, but at best misleads farmers." He calls on the traffic lights to "finally go into working mode" and to submit laws.
Presumably, however, cannabis legalization can hardly be pushed through in a fast-track procedure.
In the Merkur.de
interview
, an expert expected legalization to take place in 2024 at the earliest.
The CDU MP Hans-Jürgen Thies criticizes "that the promises about hemp cultivation are more about incense sticks".
It is dubious to give farmers in Germany hopes of hemp cultivation.
Cannabis boom in dispensaries: 1000-fold increase in ten years
In general, there is a real cannabis boom in Germany - even before the planned recreational legalization.
Because so far only medical cannabis is allowed.
It is primarily used to relieve pain and is more in demand than ever.
In pharmacies, demand has increased from eight to 9,007 kilos in the last ten years - an increase of more than 1,000 times.
The numbers come from the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices and are based on the response from the federal government.
If cannabis is also legalized for private use, there could be a further increase in demand.
The coalition agreement mentions sales in “licensed specialist shops”.
This could be pharmacies, for example, as Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) recently described.
"But we will also possibly draw the circle further."
Incidentally, Özdemir also addressed the criticism of the Union in his interview: “As soon as the Bundestag has passed the law, agriculture will also cultivate these crops (hemp).
The CDU can no longer forbid us." Özdemir continues: "Nobody should smoke their pears, but I'm happy that the insanity of the cannabis ban is finally ending."
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