 All over the globe, countries are more and more looking into cannabis legalization.
Last week, some European countries held a summit to discuss the prospect. Germany, Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands met in the first of what is expected to be a series of discussions. This could potentially expand to include other European countries. Steve Rolles, a senior policy analyst for Transform Drug Policy Foundation, said in a tweet that this was historic, adding, “While these issues have already been discussed informally in various high level forums, this is the 1st EVER dedicated ministerial level multilateral meeting on non-medical cannabis regulation.” The countries released a joint statement after the meeting and said, “A structured multilateral exchange on the vast spectrum of cannabis-related issues contributes to sharing knowledge, best practices and experiences and foster finding solutions … This first structured multilateral exchange is meant to facilitate further consultations regarding regulations of cannabis for non-medical and non-scientific uses.” Currently, Malta is the only country in the group, and the first in Europe, which already has legalized cannabis. Germany is in discussions to legalize cannabis now. Justin Haucap, director of the Duesseldorf Institute for Competition Economics, told The Guardian. “European countries that have a much bigger problem with illegal cannabis use, like France, are watching very closely what Germany is doing at the moment.” He also said, “There will be a domino effect, for sure.” Luxembourg has a legalization proposal up for consideration at this time, as well. It still needs to go through a Parliment vote, but it is expected to pass. The Netherlands has historically been seen as very pro-cannabis, but it is not actually legal, just decriminalized. The Netherlands did not sign the joint statement, but Luxembourg’s Minister of Justice Sam Tanson said all of the countries who attended the meeting agree that keeping things the way they are now “is not an option” and that they must pursue a “new, structured and multilateral drug policy.” Comments are closed.
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