Cannabis users ‘will have a new place within our society’: Germany prepares to legalise home cultivation
In a large grey facility just outside the East German city of Dresden, security is tight.
The large metal door which bars the bright white corridors is the same type used to protect Germany’s gold reserves.
Behind it, Demecan grows cannabis for medical use, something that became legal in 2017.
The strict security is due to the fact the drug is classed as a narcotic under German law.
But from 1 April that will change, with a new law decriminalising possession and home cultivation, a change managing director Dr Philipp Goebel hopes to capitalise on.
“For us, it was very good news when this law was passed,” he said.
“Now we are allowed to grow more cannabis, which we can then also sell directly to the pharmacies.
“And the second part, which is very important to the patients, is that cannabis now is declassified.
“It’s not a narcotic product anymore, which means that any doctor can now prescribe it.”
Dr Philipp Goebel. Pic: Demecan
Under the new law, adults will be allowed to possess up to 25g of the drug in public, hold 50g at home and grow a maximum of three plants.
From July, private “cannabis clubs” can supply 500 members on a limited basis.
“It’s not the law we expected,” said Steffen Geyer, a long-time cannabis activist and head of the association of Cannabis Social Clubs, “but it’s a good law because we will have 180,000 less prosecutions in the next year”.
He added: “That will be a big relief for cannabis consumers.
“You can have 25g of cannabis with you without being in fear of arrest and fear of problems with the police.
“Cannabis consumers will have a new place within our society.
“We will no longer be the black sheep of the recreational community.
Dr Philipp Goebel. Pic: Demecan
“We will be just like the people who use alcohol, or use chocolate, or coffee or tea.”
But there are restrictions.
For example, a person has to be over 18 and smoking around areas such as playgrounds and sports centres is not allowed.
The potency of the THC, the psychoactive substance that makes you high, will also be limited, especially for under 21s.
To avoid “drug tourism” the only way to obtain recreational cannabis will be to grow it at home or via “cannabis clubs.”
In both cases, people have to have been resident in Germany for at least six months.
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Getting the new law across the line has been quite a battle.
The government has claimed it will help curb the black market, tackle drug crime and ensure a safe, quality product but opponents say it ignores health risks, especially for young people.
“At the moment, the justice system, the police and local government are voicing a lot of criticism because the new law cannot be enforced properly,” said Erwin Rüddel, opposition Christian Democratic Union politician and head of the parliamentary health committee.
“There are worries over the effect that the consumption of cannabis has on the mental health of people under the age of 25, and the fact that it is impossible to control if someone has 25 grams or 30 grams in their possession.
“Then there is the issue of controlling the ‘cannabis clubs’ and controlling if someone is really only growing three plants at home.”
His party has pledged to repeal the law if it gets back into power next year.
A man carries a sign reading ‘Not criminal’ as he participates in a pro-legalisation protest in Berlin in 2022. Pic: Reuters
A recent poll showed the public is also divided, with a slim majority against it.
In a YouGov poll, 42% of respondents said they were somewhat or completely in favour of legalisation, while 47% said they were somewhat or completely against it.
Another 11% had no answer.
“I think it’s bad because of the youth. It’s dangerous,” one male shopper in Berlin told us.
But a woman we spoke to said: “I think it’s a good thing. Now they can ensure it’s good quality and now the state can get the tax from it.”
Supporters of the new law plan to welcome it with a “smoke in” at the Brandenburg Gate.
Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate. Pic: iStock
From 11:30 pm (10.30pm UK time) on Sunday evening, people have been invited to gather to smoke marijuana in public – but only when the law comes into force, according to German press agency DPA.
Despite some concerns, this is just the first step in a two-part plan.
If successful, it could pave the way for pilot projects allowing state-controlled cannabis to be sold in some licensed shops.
Pro-Western candidate Nicusor Dan has unexpectedly beaten hard-right populist George Simion in the Romanian presidential election.
Mr Simion, 38, and his rival – a centrist who’s mayor of Bucharest – faced off in the second round of the contest.
According to the official tally, Mr Dan was leading by nearly nine percentage points with more than 98% of the votes counted.
Pic: Reuters
Mr Dan and his supporters celebrated the exit polls. Pic: Reuters
After exit polls suggested he wasn’t going to win, Trump-supporting Mr Simion rejected the result and said estimates put him 400,000 votes ahead.
Speaking after voting ended, Mr Simion said his election was “clear” as he posted on Facebook: “I won!!! I am the new President of Romania and I am giving back the power to the Romanians!”
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Romania’s last election was annulled after its highest court ruled the leading candidate, nationalist Calin Georgescu, should be disqualified due to claims of electoral interference by Russia.
The result is surprising because in the first round, 38-year-old Mr Simion, founder of the right-wing Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), took 40.96% of the vote – almost 20 points ahead.
George Simion rejected the polls but official counting saw him slip behind. Pic: Reuters
Supporters of Mr Dan celebrated on the streets of the capital Bucharest. Pic: AP
An opinion poll on Friday had it much closer, but still suggested the two men were virtually tied.
Mr Dan, a 55-year-old mathematician, is running as an independent and has pledged to clamp down on corruption.
He is also staunchly pro-EU and NATO, and has said Romania’s support for Ukraine is vital for its own security.
When voting closed at 9pm local time, 11.6 million people – about 64% of eligible voters – had cast ballots. About 1.64 million Romanians living abroad also took part.
About 11.6 million people – 64% of eligible voters – cast ballots. Pic: AP
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The election is being closely watched across Europe amid a rise of support for President Donald Trump.
After polls closed, Mr Dan said “elections are not about politicians” but about communities and that in the latest vote “a community of Romanians has won, a community that wants a profound change in Romania”.
“When Romania goes through difficult times, let us remember the strength of this Romanian society,” he said.
“There is also a community that lost today’s elections. A community that is rightly outraged by the way politics has been conducted in Romania up to now.”
Israel has said it will allow a “basic quantity of food” into the besieged enclave of Gaza to avoid a “starvation crisis” following a near three-month blockade.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the decision was “based on the operational need to enable the expansion of the military operation to defeat Hamas”.
Gaza, where local authorities say more than 53,000 people have died in Israel’s 19-month campaign, has been under a complete blockade on humanitarian aid since 2 March.
It comes as global food security experts warn of famine across the territory and after a UN-backed report issued last Monday which warned one in five people in Gaza were facing starvation.
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Israel ramps up bombing in Gaza
The statement from the prime minister’s office said it would “allow a basic quantity of food to be brought in for the population in order to make certain that no starvation crisis develops in the Gaza Strip”.
“Such a crisis would endanger the continuation of Operation ‘Gideon’s Chariots’ to defeat Hamas,” it added.
“Israel will act to deny Hamas’s ability to take control of the distribution of humanitarian assistance in order to ensure that the assistance does not reach the Hamas terrorists.”
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Gaza is ‘a slaughterhouse’ says surgeon
It comes after a British surgeon working in Gaza said in a video to Sky News the enclave is now “a slaughterhouse” amid Israeli bombardment.
Israel has just ramped up its offensive in Gaza, with Palestinian health officials reporting at least 130 people were killed overnight into Sunday.
Israel Defence Forces (IDF) confirmed troops had begun “extensive ground operations throughout the northern and southern Gaza Strip”.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said 464 people had died in Israeli military strikes in the week to Sunday.
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In a statement on Sunday, IDF said its air force struck “over 670 Hamas terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip to disrupt enemy preparations and support ground operations” over the past week.
Israel has launched an escalation to increase pressure on Hamas, seize territory, displace Palestinians to the south and take greater control over the distribution of aid.
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A British surgeon working in southern Gaza has compared the region to a “slaughterhouse” because of the daily bombardment from Israeli forces.
Dr Tom Potokar, who is based at the European Hospital near Khan Younis in southern Gaza, offered his assessment of Israel’s military offensive after Palestinian health officials reported at least 130 people were killed overnight into Sunday.
Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have confirmed their troops have begun “extensive ground operations throughout the northern and southern Gaza Strip”.
In a video, Dr Potokar said it was “another day of devastation here in Gaza”, adding: “The stories coming from the north… absolutely horrific… particularly around the Indonesian Hospital.”
“I mean, it’s difficult to describe in words what’s happening here… [with the] constant sound of bombardment jets overhead.
“If Cambodia was the killing fields, then Gaza now is the slaughterhouse.”
Mourners at a funeral of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, at Al Shifa hospital, in Gaza. Pic: Reuters
His reference to Cambodia’s killing fields refers to when more than a million people were murdered in mass executions and buried by the extreme communist guerrilla group, the Khmer Rouge, under Pol Pot, between 1975 and 1979.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said 464 people had died in Israeli military strikes in the week to Sunday.
In a statement on Sunday, IDF said its air force struck “over 670 Hamas terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip to disrupt enemy preparations and support ground operations” over the past week.
A family in grief at a funeral on Sunday in Deir al Balah, central Gaza. Pic: Reuters
Dr Potokar described the impact on those on the ground, saying: “We’ve been operating all morning so far and [treating] awful explosive injuries… [including] one young woman with leg fracture and shoulder fracture and a large wound on her buttock, who came in yesterday and is not yet aware that everyone in our family was killed in the onslaught.”
Israel has launched an escalation of its war in Gaza to ramp up pressure on Hamas, seize territory, displace Palestinians to the south and take greater control over the distribution of aid.
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Israel ramps up bombing in Gaza
On Sunday, it announced and launched “extensive” new ground operations in Gaza.
It came after airstrikes killed more than 100 people, including dozens of children, overnight and into Sunday, hospitals and medics said, and forced northern Gaza’s main hospital to close.
A spokesperson for the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said: “Complete families were wiped off the civil registration record by Israeli bombardment”.
The ministry also said the bombardment had forced the closure of the Indonesian Hospital, the main hospital serving people in northern Gaza.
Nasser hospital, in the southern city of Khan Younis, said more than 48 people – mostly women and children – were killed in the area which includes tents sheltering displaced people.
In Deir al Balah, in central Gaza, at least 12 people were killed in three separate strikes, according to Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and the Nuseirat camp’s Awda Hospital.
Meanwhile, the Gaza health ministry and the Palestinian Civil Defence – which operates under the Hamas-run government – reported that 19 people were killed in several strikes in Jabalia in northern Gaza.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes.
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Ceasefire talks are taking place in Qatar this weekend – with Israel saying they involve discussions on ending the war as well as a truce and hostage deal.
A statement from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said any lasting truce must include the demilitarisation of Gaza as well as the exile of Hamas militants.
But a senior Israeli official added there had been little progress so far during talks in Qatar’s capital Doha.
Sky News Arabia reported Hamas had proposed freeing about half its Israeli hostages in exchange for a two-month ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
A Palestinian official close to the discussions said: “Hamas is flexible about the number of hostages it can free, but the problem has always been over Israel’s commitment to end the war.”
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