This is really the exception: the highly controversial law legalizing cannabis is supposed to apply retroactively.
Stoners can rejoice.
The enthusiasm among courts and public prosecutors is less pronounced.
Erding/Landshut – The law legalizing cannabis could come into force on April 1st.
However, the interior ministers of all (!) federal states have announced resistance.
They will call the mediation committee - then the law could be completely reopened by Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) - and not just because of health concerns.
The law is already creating a lot of work for the judiciary.
Unusually, immunity from prosecution is supposed to apply retroactively.
That is why courts and public prosecutors must now review all proceedings and judgments that are still being enforced.
It is important to examine whether penalties need to be revised or declared invalid because they are retroactively covered by the new law.
At the Erding District Court, the effort required to review old judgments, punishments and probation or conditions is limited.
“We have 42 cases affected,” explained the district court director on Tuesday at the annual press conference (report to follow).
These are all juvenile criminal cases in which enforcement is the responsibility of the juvenile judge and not the public prosecutor.
“At least a third of the young delinquents are likely to be spared a punishment by the traffic light government: twelve of the 42 cases are expected to be dropped,” said Kaps.
30 more would now be re-examined with regard to sentencing.
According to Kaps, all cases are affected where a judgment has already been made and may already be legally binding.
The decisive factor is whether the punishment can still be reversed if it only involved cannabis.
The situation is different for the Landshut public prosecutor's office, which has to review all violations of the Narcotics Act in adult criminal law.
When asked by our newspaper, Martin Strunz, spokesman for the Landshut public prosecutor's office, explains that there are around 740 proceedings in the regional court district.
He expressly contradicts the assumption of Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) that a case does not last longer than an hour.
“These are highly complex processes, especially when it involves not only cannabis, but also other offenses,” says Strunz.
The new law does not want to evaluate Kaps.
“In the context of a changing society, this can be discussed,” is all the director says.
What surprises her and her deputy Markus Nikol is “that the law applies retroactively.
This is unusual in legislation.”
Nikol suspects that this is not the only reason why the judiciary will have a lot of work to do.
“What is also new is that only the quantity is evaluated and not – as before – the active ingredient content.” However, this could be a size for assessing the ability to drive.
The judges are currently being trained.
“We first have to gain experience,” says Kaps.
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