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Germany’s recent announcement that it has scaled back its plans to legalise recreational cannabis could have a knock-on effect on its smaller neighbour Luxembourg’s planned pilot programme, which also looks certain to be watered down further.
Initially, Germany intended to allow licensed shops or pharmacies to sell recreational cannabis from the outset. Instead, German users will now have to rely on home cultivation and cannabis social clubs for their supply: adults aged 21 and over will be permitted to grow up to three pot plants at home and buy weed from nonprofit cannabis clubs.
The country narrowed the scope of its programme due to the European Commission’s insistence that its more ambitious plans for commercial legalisation, with licensed cultivators, producers and retailers, would not conform with EU law.
And Barbara Pastori, director of strategy and data at Prohibition Partners in London, told CannIntelligence: “This likewise limits the potential scope for Luxembourg’s programme; they are prevented from establishing full-scale legalisation at the moment.”
In April, the Luxembourg government announced plans to issue two production licences for cannabis growing and to control the entire supply chain over 14 dispensaries across the country. The current short-term plan is to allow adults to self-cultivate up to four plants for consumption in private spaces only, Pastori said.
The sticking point lies in international law
She said the German experience had no direct legal impact on Luxembourg’s plans, but that in the long term, plans for licensed production and state-run dispensaries could be affected – though that remains far off.
Germany had planned to make cannabis available at pharmacies, but chose not to do this in the first phase of legalisation because the EU would not approve it. That being so, Luxembourg knows its eventual plan to have state-run dispensaries will also be denied EU approval.
Belgium, France and Germany objected when Luxembourg announced in 2018 that it would legalise cannabis production and consumption. This created “significant roadblocks”, Pastori said. And in March this year, the Luxembourg Council of State, which advises the national legislature, lodged four formal objections to the bill – which has been progressively watered down – saying it would “risk exposing them to criticism on the internal level of non-conformity with international law”.
“The main issues concern international law – not EU law, but United Nations treaties, so it is different to the German case. The UN treaties are legally binding but breaching them has not got an immediate reaction as with EU law.”
Luxembourg’s Ministry of Justice is now working on amendments to the bill to address the Council of State’s concerns. The coalition government is pushing for the first phase of the planned legalisation to be put to a vote in the Chamber of Deputies before October’s election.
Health minister Paulette Lenert told the Luxembourgish broadcaster RTL that the pilot project would go to the Chamber of Deputies “in due course” and suggested that it would pass quickly. However, she declined to predict whether that was likely to be before the election on 8th October.
Open confrontation with EU institutions
Pastori believes that the complexity of the situation means a final version of the bill probably won’t be ready by October.
“There is a chance that the government could get the self-cultivation and private consumption proposal passed before the election. Regarding the bill for production and dispensation – it is unlikely that a finished version of this will be tabled before the election,” she said. “There could be a draft version of the bill, but reaching a final version before October does not seem realistic.”
CannIntelligence’s director of legal research and analysis, Pablo Cano Trilla, doubts that recreational cannabis will become a reality in Luxembourg any time soon – and believes any other attempt to fully legalise recreational cannabis in Europe may only happen if a country opts to openly confront EU institutions, as it seems the Czech Republic is willing to do.
“Those member states intending to relax cannabis control laws are most likely to have to limit it to a decriminalisation model that allows for certain sales, following the social club model prevalent in cities like Barcelona, or turn a blind eye and adopt a tolerance policy similar to the Netherlands,” Cano Trilla said. “Alternatively, member states could opt for dramatically reducing the requirements for doctors to prescribe patients with medical cannabis, allowing it for any medical condition that a doctor understands would benefit from the therapeutic use of cannabis, following the example of some US states.”
– Jennifer Freedman CannIntelligence contributing writer
Photo: Iorrveth
