German police union wants changes to cannabis bill before it is law

The German Police Union is urging the Bundesrat, or upper house of parliament, to force changes to the partial legalization of cannabis bill before it is set to become law on April 1.

"We particularly regret that the law does not provide for any transitional periods that would allow the police, customs, judicial authorities and youth welfare offices in this country to prepare for the new legal situation," the deputy chairman of the GdP, Alexander Poitz, wrote to Bundesrat President Manuela Schwesig in a letter.

Schwesig is also the premier of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The Bundesrat is composed of the premiers of Germany's 16 states.

The police union wants Schwesig to send the bill to the mediation committee during the Bundesrat's next session on Friday so what it sees as unresolved issues could be clarified there.

Otherwise there could be legal and operational uncertainties, the union said. Unresolved issues, according to the GdP, include how cannabis consumption will affect road traffic and how to detect cannabis in drivers, since there is a lack of suitable equipment.

The union also fears that criminal gangs could quickly adapt to the new legal situation, change their profit model and possibly open up new target markets if the law comes into force unchanged.

On February 23, the Bundestag or lower house of parliament, passed a bill allowing for adult possession of up to 25 grams of cannabis for personal use in public. Three live cannabis plants will be legal in one's own home and up to 50 grams of cannabis for personal use there.

Smoking weed in public spaces is to be banned in schools, sports facilities and within 100 metres of these facilities.

The bill is already on the Bundesrat's agenda for Friday. It does not require Bundesrat approval, but the chamber could call on the mediation committee with the Bundestag and slow down the process.

To date, three Bundesrat committees have recommended that the bill be sent to the mediation committee. Only the transport committee recommends that it be passed as it is.

A health policy spokesman for the Green party's Bundestag's parliamentary group appealed to the 10 state governments where the Greens are in the ruling coalition to oppose the referral to the mediation committee.

"There is much to suggest that if the law goes to a mediation committee, it will not come out of there," said Janosch Dahmen. That would mean that the bill would have failed.

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach also warned against delaying the planned legalization as it would help take the strain off the judicial system.

"Legalization will eliminate tens of thousands of cannabis consumption offences every year. The courts will be relieved," Lauterbach wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "When introduced, amnesty is a burden. But postponing it doesn't help, the work remains the same."

Prison sentences or fines already imposed for cannabis offences, which will no longer be punishable under the law in the future, are to be waived or convictions entered in the Central Criminal Register are to be deleted when the law comes into force.

It is expected that thousands of complex cases will have to be reviewed individually. The Health Ministry estimates the number nationwide at 7,500, while Germany's 16 states assume much higher figures.

The states fear that the judiciary will be overwhelmed if it has to do this in a short space of time in addition to its actual work.