As of: February 26, 2024, 7:00 p.m
By: Richard Lorenz, Magdalena Höcherl
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The Bundestag members Andreas Mehltretter (SPD), Erich Irlstorfer (CSU) and Leon Eckert (Greens; from left) comment on the cannabis law.
© private/dpa
The traffic light coalition's cannabis law has passed.
Two members of the Bundestag from the Freising district are happy about it, the third sharply criticizes the decision.
District
- It was a long tug of war, but last Friday the Bundestag made a decision in favor of cannabis legalization with a clear majority.
From April 1st, adults will be allowed to carry 25 grams of cannabis with them in public and store 50 grams at home.
The vote result of 404 “yes” to 226 “no” votes provoked different reactions from the Bundestag members from the Freising district.
“The previous cannabis ban policy has failed – we have to say that very clearly,” emphasizes Andreas Mehltretter.
For the SPD member of the Bundestag, a new legal regulation was more than overdue, he explains when asked by the FT.
Mehltretter represents the opinion of SPD Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach: Legalization is a certain health protection because it means that consumers no longer have to resort to cannabis that may be contaminated.
“Caesura in recent health policy legislation”
However, it is also clear: “Such new regulations are never perfect at first glance.
This has to be evaluated after a year or two in order to then make improvements.” Nevertheless: “Legalization is better than what was before.”
His colleague from the CSU sees it completely differently.
“The cannabis legalization decided today by the traffic light coalition marks a turning point in recent health policy legislation,” writes Erich Irlstorfer in a press release.
Like 167 other members of the CDU and CSU, he voted against the draft law.
“After this decision, the 'healthy' in the official title 'Federal Minister of Health' can also be deleted, as damage to health, especially for the youngest members of our society, is thereby accepted.
Despite the concerns of numerous professional associations, from pediatricians to the police union, the amendment was pushed through,” complains the CSU representative, who sits on the Bundestag’s health committee.
He explains: There is no need for drug proliferation now, but rather prevention.
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Green Party member of the Bundestag Leon Eckert, on the other hand, voted for the cannabis law on Friday: “I am fundamentally in favor of the legalization of cannabis,” he said when asked by the FT.
The new law enables better protection of minors through stricter age controls.
“The consumption of cannabis has long been a reality in society and also in our region.
“The end of criminalization enables better protection against admixtures and contamination,” says Eckert in the same vein as Mehltretter.
The Echinger Green MP also emphasizes strictly: “The law must be an opportunity to ensure better prevention of all drugs – this especially includes the everyday drug alcohol.”