A protester smokes a marijuana cigarette in Madrid during a march for the legalization of marijuana. From improving public health to increasing tax revenues and reducing taboos around medical marijuana, the advantages of a legal market are quite a few, advocates said at an industry event in London last week.
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Calls to legalize marijuana are mounting across Europe as more countries seek to emulate the progressive efforts of Canada and parts of the US to green light the drug.
From improving public health to increasing tax revenues and reducing taboos around medical marijuana, the advantages of a legal market are quite a few, advocates said at the Cannabis Europa industry event in London last week.
That is despite long-standing backlash from critics who say legalization results in more crime, addiction and health risks.
“We know the way a regulated market works,” said Jindřich Vobořil, the country’s drug coordinator in the Czech Republic, on Tuesday.
Vobořil said it was high time marijuana was treated the same as other regulated products under its jurisdiction, reminiscent of tobacco and alcohol.
“We all know that what doesn’t work is prohibition. We see it with alcohol, we see it with tobacco, we see it with gambling,” he added.
Growing crop
The Czech Republic is amongst half a dozen European countries which have announced plans to legalize the plant in recent months as part of radical latest reforms.
Prague said last 12 months it was preparing a bill legalize the drug for adult use, marking the most dramatic step forward in the country since personal possession was allowed in 2010.
They followed the Germans, which in October published proposals green light for the consumption and sale of marijuana – a plan that, if passed, would make it the world’s largest regulated domestic marijuana market.
It is rather essential for the Netherlands to take the next and final step. It’s the legalization of cannabis cultivation.
Dorien Rookmaker
Member of the European Parliament from the Netherlands
Elsewhere, Luxembourg passed a law allowing residents to achieve this grow marijuana for personal use; Malta has private “cannabis clubs” with a green light; and Switzerland, a non-EU country, approved an try to sell and devour the drug in Zurich.
Even the Netherlands, where cannabis is grown and sold technically criminalized though tolerated — it plans to launch a pilot program to check the legal sale of the drug by the end of this 12 months.
“It is rather essential that the Netherlands takes the next and final step,” said Dorien Rookmaker, Member of the European Parliament for the Netherlands. “It’s the legalization of marijuana cultivation.”
EU kickback
Despite this, governments are facing opposition at European Union level, and plenty of are still struggling to get laws that’s in keeping with EU law, international drug treaties and public health concerns.
While marijuana is allowed for medicinal purposes in lots of European countries, the region has long taken a conservative approach to recreational marijuana, with some concerned that legalization in a single state could have knock-on effects on neighboring countries that oppose such moves.
The European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, told CNBC it couldn’t comment on specific national discussions, but added it was closely following developments.
“We are aware and closely following these developments in Member States, especially to grasp the impact of changes in cannabis policy. This includes health, crime, environmental or social impacts,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
Activists demanding the legalization of marijuana march past the Reichstag during the annual cannabis parade in Berlin, Germany.
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EU regulations require Member States to make sure that sale of illegal drugs including cannabis, is “subject to effective, proportionate and dissuasive criminal penalties”, but doesn’t restrict personal consumption. Industrial legalization can also be incompatible with international treaties, including the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961although countries reminiscent of Canada and Uruguay haven’t suffered serious consequences since the drug was authorized.
Consequently of feedback from the EU, Germany softened its sweeping legalization plans last month, with Health Minister Karl Lauterbach noting that his original proposal “failed” and a revision would should “take a latest direction”.
The updated rules now aim to enable private consumption and distribution through non-profit groups, while also outlining the potential of a pilot project to check the sale of the drug in a small group of licensed stores.
“I do not think it’s unstoppable”
Such setbacks, nevertheless, haven’t deterred supporters who say legalization will improve security in the industry, help protect youth and combat the illegal drug trade, without hurting the broader bloc.
“There are so many countries that see that prohibition policy has failed,” said Dirk Heitepriem, vice-president of the German Cannabis Industry Association.
“I’m very, very optimistic that in the long run we are going to find an answer, we are going to discover a legal framework for EU members to legalize cannabis, while others will stay put to say ‘no, this isn’t our cup of tea.’
In line with Rookmaker, one potential avenue can be for members of the public to select it up European Residents’ Initiative for legalization. This can be a mechanism that permits residents to propose EU policies to the Commission in the event that they win at the least 1 million votes.
In a 2022 study, greater than half (55%) of people in eight European countries have voted to legalize marijuana, in response to London-based strategic consultancy Hanway Associates.
“Cannabis legalization may very well be the one hundred and first residents’ initiative,” said Rookmaker, noting that the commission is currently considering its one centesimal initiativewhich calls for all European capitals to be connected by high-speed rail lines. “I believe we are able to take an enormous step forward this fashion.”
This leads policymakers like Vobořil to hope that discussions on legalizing weed in the EU will intensify in the coming months.
“It’s obligatory. It’s going to occur in all places in some unspecified time in the future. I do not think it will probably be stopped,” added Vobořil.