As of: February 15, 2024, 6:44 p.m
By: Josef Ametsbichler
Comments
Press
Split
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) is convinced of his goal of decriminalizing the consumption of marijuana.
Grassroots experts view the plan with skepticism.
© Kay Nietfeld/dpa
Despite legalization, experts from the Ebersberg district warn against cannabis consumption.
They are particularly critical of the effects on young people.
District
- The federal government has agreed to legalize the drug cannabis on April 1st of this year.
Despite the possible reduction in workload, this announcement causes more frowns than anticipation among the responsible authorities in the Ebersberg district.
Youth Welfare Office: “Still a dangerous substance”
Although smoking weed should remain prohibited for under-18s, department heads Florian Robida and Bernhard Wacht from the youth justice service fear that allowing it for adults could also encourage cannabis consumption among young people.
Because: What is not a crime for adults cannot be a crime for minors either: A young person who is caught by the police with schnapps will have the substance confiscated and a clear announcement, but not a report, explains Wacht - at most there will be a notification to the youth welfare office.
If it were the same with cannabis, the youth court assistant suspects: “The educational consequences could be eliminated.” He is already noticing an increasing trivialization of the topic among under-18s, along the lines of: “It will be legal anyway.” And besides that On the black market, minors have an additional source of supply: people over 18, for example from friends, who are legally allowed to possess the drug.
Youth welfare office head Robida says: “Even if it is no longer a banned substance, it is still a dangerous one.” When it comes to drug education, the youth welfare office relies on studies that attest that cannabis has massive effects on brain formation – the earlier consumption begins, the more serious it is Effects on thinking and memory performance.
Above all, Robida would like clear regulations so that the office can react in prevention work: “I do what the legislature says.”
From the youth welfare office's point of view, the issue of legalization also offers opportunities, such as better control of cutting agents and artificial cannabinoids with which the black market drug is often mixed.
These could trigger unforeseeable physical and psychological consequences, including psychosis.
In addition, according to Wacht, the active ingredient content of cannabis flowers has been increasing for decades.
He sees a transfiguration of what the drug has developed into: “Our boys and girls today would just laugh at what the Woodstock generation smoked back then.”
District Court: “A certain form of relief”
In recent years, less than ten percent of all proceedings on administrative offenses and criminal offenses at the Ebersberg district court have been related to the topic of narcotics.
Cannabis is not recorded separately in statistics, but experience shows that it accounts for the lion's share of legal drug proceedings - although also in connection with trafficking or quantities that remain punishable under the new legal situation.
Court spokesman Frank Gellhaus on the possible consequences of legalization for development cooperation: "My impression is that there will be a certain form of relief, which, at least at the Ebersberg district court, will ultimately remain to a rather manageable extent." There will be no personnel savings .
My news
Because of Grabsch allegations: former driving instructor (44) read in court
Nine positions unfilled: Pliening lacks staff reading
Postal breakdown in Ebersberg: shipments unprotected in the public e-EinZ stairwell reading
Who should take on Proske?
Ebersberger CSU is still keeping a low profile
1 hour ago
Poing far away from its new development areas: searching for traces of the oldest house reading
Secret under the field: Researchers explore mysterious, ancient tunnel near Aßlinglesen
Gellhaus sees a “massive additional workload” facing the judiciary in the transition phase.
The responsible public prosecutor's office in Munich is already in the process of filtering out those cannabis cases for which the punishment has not yet been enforced.
Here the perpetrators can hope for a retroactive change or even a waiver of punishment.
Upon request, the relevant offenses would have to be deleted from the Federal Central Register, the official record, after legalization.
The judiciary will also have to do a lot of work to monitor the new rules, from maximum quantities to the planned sales locations, said Gellhaus.
Police want to take consistent action: “Effects are further trivialized”
“What is certain is that the Bavarian police will consistently intervene, control and prosecute crimes or administrative offenses in accordance with the applicable legal situation,” wrote the Upper Bavaria North Presidium responsible for the district in Ingolstadt in response to EZ’s request.
In addition to the concern for the protection of minors, which the police share with the youth welfare office, the officials also warn of a danger to road traffic.
“The number of driving under the influence of drugs and the number of drug-related traffic accidents have been rising steadily for years,” writes a spokesman.
“Legalization further trivializes the effects of cannabis, and frequent misjudgments with significant impacts on road safety are inevitable.” Like the district court, the presidium also sees more rather than less control work for its officials.
The two departments, Poing and Ebersberg, do not comment on specific case numbers.
The statistics are not yet complete.
Addiction advice: “The law has not been thought through wisely”
Caritas expert Margit Schwarz says: “From the point of view of addiction helpers, legalization is definitely an opportunity.” But she also says: “The law has not been cleverly thought through.” It makes sense to reduce the drastic criminal consequences, especially for young people.
Fighting addiction is a task for society as a whole.
Cannabis is already the most commonly consumed addictive substance alongside alcohol, which is why those in need of therapy visit the Grafinger specialist outpatient clinic.
Classically, it is dealing with a negative emotional situation, such as the onset of depression, that leads young people in particular to consume, which can lead to dependence, especially psychologically.
Even if this is often disputed in consumer circles.
Anyone who can no longer cope without the drug usually needs support to get off it.
And this is where addiction expert Schwarz sees the problem:
There are not enough resources for prevention and early intervention - i.e. to prevent addictions and to intervene quickly to avert greater damage.
“It takes money,” she says.
The Caritas advice center assumes that legalization will also be accompanied by an increased need for therapy offers - especially because, from a medical point of view, the age of 18 is too early for relatively low-risk consumption: "This will be a ripple effect."
You can find more news in our brand new Merkur.de app, now in an improved design with more personalization functions.
Directly available for download, more information can be found here.
Are you an enthusiastic user of WhatsApp?
Merkur.de will now keep you up to date via a new Whatsapp channel.
Click here to go directly to the channel.