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The German government on Wednesday approved a plan to legalize some recreational marijuana use, paving the way to allow adults to legally buy and possess small amounts of cannabis.
The legislation, which would allow adults to purchase and possess up to 25 grams of recreational cannabis for personal consumption through nonprofit social clubs, must still be approved by Parliament. But the endorsement from the three-party coalition’s cabinet was a crucial step toward Germany becoming the first major European country to legalize marijuana.
“This is an important law that will represent a long-term change in drug policy,” said Karl Lauterbach, Germany’s health minister at a news conference on Wednesday, adding that the legislation represented “a concept of controlled legalization.”
Under current German law, it is illegal to buy cannabis, but not to consume it.
The measure is weaker than what Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government had originally proposed. Germany’s socially liberal coalition government announced its intent to legalize recreational marijuana when it came into power in 2021, quickly finding consensus on an issue opposed for years by the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
But implementation has proved difficult. A version of the plan introduced last year by Mr. Lauterbach would have allowed the distribution of marijuana through commercial stores. That idea was scuttled after the measure met resistance from the European Union’s governing body, the European Commission.
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