As of: March 1, 2024, 3:44 p.m
By: Kilian Beck
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The CSU is pulling out all the stops against cannabis legalization.
Group leader Holetschek is already expecting lawsuits from cannabis clubs.
Munich – A joint in the English Garden is still a bad idea this coming spring weekend.
If the man in the Bavarian State Chancellery, a five-minute walk away, has his way, it will stay that way beyond April 1st.
The traffic light coalition in Berlin decided to partially legalize cannabis at the end of February.
The law is due to come into force at the beginning of April.
But mainly Union-run federal states, especially Bavaria, ruled by Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU), want to stop the law.
The CSU is examining a lawsuit.
If that doesn't work, Söder has already announced: Smoking weed is "easier somewhere else than in Bavaria," as the
Augsburger Allgemeine
recently quoted him as saying at an appointment in Meitingen, Swabia.
Markus Söder (CSU), Prime Minister of Bavaria and CSU boss, is against the partial legalization of cannabis.
© Peter Kneffel/dpa/archive image
Söder is not alone in criticizing cannabis legalization
The state leader, who holds a doctorate in law, is not alone in his criticism of the federal government.
There are also requests for changes to the cannabis law from the SPD-led federal states of Hamburg and Lower Saxony from Karl Lauterbach's (SPD) Ministry of Health.
The same applies to Baden-Württemberg, led by Winfried Kretschmann.
The Prime Minister and Green Party politician has been said to have a good relationship with his neighbor in Munich since the Corona pandemic at the latest.
But the demands of Social Democrats and Greens in the federal states are aimed at details, but at the core they are primarily about bureaucracy: part of the law is a retroactive amnesty for stoners for offenses that would be made illegal under the law.
State ministries of justice fear that the judiciary will be overwhelmed by the need to reverse proceedings in a legally secure manner.
The Federal Council will probably only be able to delay the cannabis law - unless Söder sues and wins
That is why the Mediation Committee, the body in which the Bundestag and the state chamber negotiate in the event of disagreements, could now be called upon at the next Federal Council meeting on March 22nd.
In this case, the state representatives would probably try to weaken the law.
If there is a majority against the law in the Federal Council, it is currently still a so-called objection law.
With such laws, the Bundestag can simply overrule a majority of the states.
The Federal Council can only delay the law for a few months, but cannot stop it.
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The Christian Socialists in Munich now want to check whether the law might require approval after all.
Consent laws are, very simplified, federal laws with which Berlin particularly interferes with the independence of the states.
The Federal Council can block this.
Ultimately, this path would lead to organ dispute proceedings at the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe, where this question could be finally clarified.
In addition to the lawsuit, Söder announced that Bavaria would “participate in everything that would invalidate or delay this law or allow it to be staged later or differently.”
CSU man Holetschek would “even welcome” lawsuits against Bavaria’s cannabis policy
Exactly how the CSU intends to make life more difficult for stoners in Bavaria than in other federal states is not yet entirely clear.
Söder wants to interpret the law “as strictly as possible”.
In an interview with the
Münchner Merkur,
Health Minister Judith Gerlach announced that a “central control unit would be set up to curb the consumption of cannabis for recreational purposes” after legalization “as much as possible”.
This unit, her company specified to the
BR,
should carry out regular “comprehensive” checks, especially at the clubs in which cannabis cultivation is to take place.
Gerlach's predecessor, state parliamentary group leader Klaus Holetschek, preemptively announced that he would "even welcome" complaints from clubs against the Bavarian implementation, as this would create legal certainty through the highest courts.
Florian Siekmann, domestic policy spokesman for the state parliament Greens, meanwhile called on the
BR
to “finally overcome the outdated CSU drug policy”.
He accused the CSU of breaking federal law with its tactics when in doubt and said: “The CSU also has to adhere to the law.”
Martin Hagen, Bavarian FDP leader, accused the CSU in the
BR
of wanting to “rule into the greenhouses” like “the Greens ruled into the boiler rooms”.
Observers consider it unlikely that there will be a joint in the English Garden this summer.
(KiBec)