As of: March 25, 2024, 9:39 p.m
By: Felicitas Breschendorf
Comments
Press
Split
The new cannabis law is intended to dry up the black market.
Can that succeed?
We ask someone who makes his money with it.
Alex* doesn't look like dealers look in movies.
When he grins, his face has something almost childlike about it.
He is an ordinary “pale boy”, as he himself says.
The 29-year-old has been making money selling weed for ten years.
With cannabis legalization starting on April 1st, his life could change fundamentally.
Our author spoke to him - one day before the all-important Federal Council meeting, which thousands of people watched live.
Cannabis legalization: Dealer believes older stoners will continue to buy from him
“I have no existential fears,” says Alex
BuzzFeed News Germany
from
IPPEN.MEDIA.
His optimism has to do with his regular customers, through whom he mainly finances himself.
These are not just young people, as it often seems in the media.
Instead, his customers were between 23 and 60 years old, the oldest was even 72.
Minors are a no-go for him.
The majority of stoners have been buying from him for several years.
He believes that he will not lose older customers in particular as a result of cannabis legalization.
“They don’t really get it.” Just go to the nearest supermarket and buy weed – that’s not what reality will look like.
To buy weed, adults must become members of a so-called grower's association, also known as a cannabis club.
There they are obliged to actively participate in cultivation or related activities.
Membership might be too complicated for the older generation, thinks Alex.
Is weed cheaper at the dealer than in cannabis clubs?
His biggest argument: “Why should people put up with the effort for a higher price?” The dealer assumes that a gram of cannabis will cost twelve to 13 euros in the clubs, like it does in many coffee shops in the Netherlands the case is.
However, he himself charges between six and eight euros.
Alex could be wrong with this assumption: The Cannabis Club Berlin, for example, is currently expecting an average price of four to eight euros per gram of cannabis.
However, all clubs also charge a monthly membership fee; the Cannabis Club Berlin plans to pay ten euros.
But he's less worried about the cannabis clubs, even though they have new members every day.
“The hobby gardeners are the problem,” says Alex.
In the future, adults will be able to grow up to three cannabis plants privately.
This is how much loss dealers could make through cannabis legalization
Alex currently earns between 500 and 2,000 euros a month from dealing, as he says.
“There are months when things go well or poorly.” One of the reasons for this is that he can’t always get rid of the material reliably, depending on how good the quality is.
(Legalization could limit the spread of stretched weed, which could also be a benefit for dealers.)
Alex suspects his income could drop by half in a few months.
If Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) has his way, they could be eliminated entirely.
Curbing the black market and putting people like Alex out of work was one of the major goals of the cannabis law.
According to the Federal Criminal Police Office, there are an estimated 28,905 cannabis dealers in Germany.
As the hemp association tells
BuzzFeed News Germany
, the number of unreported cases could be very high.
In order to sell cannabis, dealers have to weigh the goods beforehand.
(Symbolic image) © Copyright/ xDreamstimexCendecedx
My news
Putin wants an “empire” – also with the help of Soviet material: “Losses are an acceptable price” read
Seriously injured ski jumping ace with devastating bedside diagnosis
“That’s disrespectful”: Civil servants earn as little as citizens’ benefit recipients – and the traffic lights are watching
Motorcyclist from Munich has to return on foot - and takes out anger on construction yard employees
Unusual event: 25,000 people wait in St. Peter's Square - Pope foregoes reading sermons
Sad background: WDR presenter says goodbye after 16 years of reading
“I see legalization as an opportunity to get out”
Alex also works hourly in the social sector.
He has completed training.
He has recently increased his hours from ten to 20 and earns 1,600 euros net.
If his profits from the cannabis business decline massively, he can imagine working full time.
“I see legalization as an opportunity to get out and gain more of a foothold in normal life.”
Don't switch to selling harder drugs?
“No, not really,” he says firmly.
“For me, work was a youthful thing and I want to slowly grow up.
When I have a wife and children at some point, I don't want to do that anymore anyway." Dealing has many disadvantages, he says: being available 24 hours a day, plus the fear of being caught or robbed and beaten up.
Cannabis dealers feel responsible towards their customers
It becomes clear: it wouldn't be easy for Alex to stop.
It's not the money that worries him, but the interpersonal aspects.
In some ways, the work of small-time dealers is similar to that of retailers.
Regardless of whether you sell vegetables at the market or weed in the park: over time you build bonds with your customers.
Alex speaks of long-term relationships, sometimes friendships.
“These include people who hardly have any social contacts, whom I visit every two weeks.
Ultimately, I do relationship work.” He feels responsible for his customers.
“I feel like I owe them an accountability when I get out.
Because they’ve been relying on me for years.”
Ultimately, I do relationship work.
Alex*, cannabis dealer
If legalization comes in April and fewer people rely on it, that could be a relief for him.
In the short term, it could be more popular with everyone who wants to smoke weed legally from April 1st.
Because cannabis clubs are unlikely to start selling until several months later.
For Alex himself, membership or building his own is not an option - he doesn't smoke weed.
*Name was changed by the editors