Great Green Access for Deutschland

Cannabis legalization in Germany has been an unyielding effort amongst advocates and political parties for quite some time. In the 1990s, Social Democrat Otto Schily suggested legalizing cannabis for personal use, and others, including the country’s Left Party and Green Party have made attempts to move cannabis legalization in Germany forward over the years, according to Deutsche Welle (DW). Currently, only a few people, of the estimated three million Germans who imbibe in cannabis, are permitted to use the plant as a medicine. According to The Local, there are only 382 patients, diagnosed with either AIDS, cancer, Multiple Sclerosis or Parkinson’s disease, who have been granted permission to legally use cannabis as a pain reliever as allowed in a 2005 Supreme Court Decision.

By next year, this number will have risen as the country made a monumental decision on May 2, when the German Cabinet decided to pass a bill presented by Hermann Gröhe, the country’s Minister of Health. Gröhe’s bill will legalize medical cannabis country-wide by Spring 2017, and will allow patients with serious illnesses and no other therapeutic alternative to obtain a doctors’ prescription to purchase cannabis extracts and flowers from pharmacies. “Our goal is that seriously ill people are looked after to the best of our ability,” said Gröhe. The Health Minister’s bill also states that health insurance agencies will help cover the costs for patients who cannot afford medical cannabis.

“Hermann Gröhe’s bill will legalize medical cannabis country-wide by Spring 2017, and will allow patients with serious illnesses and no other therapeutic alternative to obtain a doctors’ prescription to purchase cannabis extracts and flowers from pharmacies.”

This is great news as medical cannabis patients currently have to pay for their medicines out of pocket. Not only will this help patients financially, it will make access to medical cannabis easier. According to Spiegel Online, the few medical cannabis patients residing in Germany must depend on a Dutch delivery service to receive their medicine and most of the time orders go undelivered, giving them no choice but grow their own plants or buy off the streets. With Gröhe’s bill, patients will no longer have to live in financial ruin or fear of prosecution.

As this seems like a big step forward there are still those who oppose cannabis legalization in Germany. Spiegel Online reports that a 2015 survey it conducted revealed that 59 percent of Germans want cannabis to remain illegal in the country. This need may come with concerns from political figures like Marlene Mortler, Germany’s Federal Drug Commissioner who told CNN that cannabis is not a harmless substance. Although Mortler believes cannabis should be legal medically, she believes that recreational legalization should not be an option. Last year Mortler blamed cannabis advocates for the increase of cannabis use amongst teens in the country stating that they “trivialized health risk” associated with the plant.

Despite these minor downfalls, perceptions of cannabis seem to be changing collectively around the world. States all across America are hoping to become the next to recreationally legalize cannabis while Canada has shared its efforts in legalizing recreational use country wide. These types of movements, are straying away from the archaic war on drugs that most believe has caused nothing but trouble and does little to curb black market distribution of cannabis and other substances. This is why German cities like Berlin and Frankfurt have considered controlled cannabis legalization as it will help eliminate the dangers associated with the illegal cannabis market, including sales to minors.

Although Germany has decided to give patients access to legal medical cannabis, there products will not be sourced within the country until the government sets up “privately supervised” cultivation facilities, according to TRT World. Until then, Germany will export its medicine from countries where cultivation and distribution is legally regulated. Currently, possession, cultivating or selling cannabis is illegal in Germany, but most of the time those caught in possession of six grams are less are not prosecuted.