In Lithuania, as is known, possession of a box of cannabis (more than 5 g) is a crime punishable by up to 2 years in prison. Possession of just half a gram of cannabis (per roll) may also result in prosecution under the Criminal Code. There has never been an attempt to legalize the possession of cannabis in Lithuania. It was only proposed to reduce the penalties to 300-1000 euros for the possession of less than 5 g of cannabis – to decriminalize this act. But even these plans met with almost insurmountable political opposition. Compared to Lithuania, the Germans took a seven-mile step and took it to the end – the law was adopted.
Everyone knows, including the Germans, that smoking cannabis is not healthy. Occasional smoking of pure cannabis may have little health damage, but regular smoking, especially at a young age, can cause damage to mental health as well as other side effects. Lithuanian toxicologists emphasize this every time when giving interviews to journalists. So what was the German logic in abolishing criminal liability for the possession of a substance that poses a health risk?
One of the fundamental arguments of the German government is the desire to protect children and young people. How? After all, limited legalization doesn’t seem to affect children? To understand how, we first need to find out which cannabis is most intended to protect children from. Cannabis can be divided into two groups, which we can relatively call dirty (“street”) and clean (controlled). Dirty, or “street,” cannabis poses the greatest risk to its users. The user of illegal “street” cannabis never knows if it is sprayed with psychotropic chemicals (“chimke”) of unknown composition and toxicity. In fact, it is cheaper and easier for distributors to spray chemically-fibered hemp or parts of hemp with low THC to increase their psychotropic effects than to offer the usual (about 14 percent) THC concentration of intoxicating cannabis flowers. The most terrible stories about the sad consequences of smoking cannabis are related to “chimke”.
It is no secret that some children smoke cannabis despite the fact that it is prohibited by criminal laws. In a survey of 15-16-year-old children conducted in Lithuania in 2019, 18 percent said after trying cannabis smoke at least once in their life. In Germany, the number of 12- to 17-year-olds who have used cannabis in the last 12 months before the survey has doubled over the past decade. And what do you think they tried, clean or “street” cannabis? When cannabis is criminalized, only the “street” is available to children. No matter how strict the criminal law is, some children will find it quite easily. If a country has legal, controlled, and therefore clean cannabis, there is a chance that curious and prohibition-defying children will try clean, rather than unknown, stored, mold-contaminated, or even dangerous chemical-sprayed cannabis. No one has ever died from clean cannabis (of course, they didn’t get healthier either). And smoking “street” cannabis, perhaps sprayed with chemicals, is a kind of lottery where you can “draw” very stupid and sad “prizes”. Those kids who will never try any weed are cool. But those who think responsibly about the state do not have a headache because of them, but because of those who cannot resist the desire to try the forbidden “fruit”, in this case – grass.
It would be fair to note that legalizing cannabis would increase its availability to children. There would be some increase in the availability of clean cannabis, and that would be the price for less children participating in the khimke lottery. To keep consumption from rising, the German government will invest millions in preventing the use of psychoactive substances, as well as strengthening life skills programs. So that everyone, and especially children, become aware of the health risks posed by clean cannabis, and even more so by “street” cannabis.
Convincing the opponents of limited legalization, the German Minister of Health, Professor of Public Health Karl Lauterbach, said at the last discussion and voting session in the Bundesrat that the use of narcotic substances among young people has increased significantly in several years. Overall, drug-related deaths have also increased. We can try not to see it, not to talk about it and continue to believe in the effectiveness of strict prohibitions. Or we can face reality and change the policy.
After the legalization of cannabis, not only children but also adults will be protected from the “chimke” lottery. When it is not possible to legally grow cannabis or purchase it from a strictly controlled non-commercial cannabis grower’s club, where then do consumers purchase cannabis? From illegal sources that do not guarantee the purity of the cannabis in any way. The German government hopes that the emergence of tightly controlled legal, non-commercial sources of cannabis will result in a significant loss of customers and revenue for illegal distributors. No one expects the illegal market to disappear completely. Only Soviet slogans talked about the complete eradication of crime. But it is very likely that she will suffer a financial blow.
The German government has undertaken to analyze the situation through scientific research. In four years, the scientific conclusions will be drawn whether the government’s expectations were correct or whether the limited legalization did not lead to a cannabis armageddon in German society. Data from Canada and some U.S. states that have already limited cannabis legalization do not predict any disaster. According to K. Lauterbach, the Netherlands, where there has never been legalization, and the distribution and use of cannabis is only looked at with a thumbs-down, is a negative example, lessons have been learned from it, and Germany is following a different path.
In Lithuania, those who do not promote a healthy lifestyle and occasionally or regularly smoke cannabis will continue to be criminals. Because not following a healthy lifestyle is a crime? Really? Smoking tobacco or drinking alcohol are also not healthy habits, but don’t sober-minded people demand criminal responsibility for keeping a pack of cigarettes or buying a bottle of vodka? Scientific works state that there is no data that the use of clean cannabis (especially rare, not daily) is more harmful than smoking tobacco or drinking alcoholic beverages. We all know that smoking tobacco can cause cancer and heart disease and is addictive. How frequent alcohol consumption affects the maturing organism, which causes not only medical, but also social consequences (problems of violence in families, etc.), is also well known. Criminal liability for a pack of cigarettes or a bottle of vodka at home is illogical, but for a roll of clean cannabis is logical? In a society where objective knowledge about psychoactive substances is severely lacking, there are of course different opinions.
It is a popular argument in Lithuania that the possession of cannabis is punishable due to the fact that it is purchased from the “black market”. This argument confuses the fault of illegal distributors with that of consumers. If it is allowed to grow cannabis at home or to purchase it in strictly controlled non-commercial cannabis clubs, as is allowed in Germany, such an argument would lose its meaning altogether.
Now we will have the opportunity to see from the outside what social consequences Germany’s decision to limit the legalization of the possession and cultivation of cannabis will have. The first consequences are coming very soon – more than 100,000 criminal cases in which cannabis users were punished will be reviewed in Germany. In Lithuania, even people of solid age, who decided to relax by smoking cannabis, will continue to be punished as criminals. Unless you choose to touch vodka or smoke tobacco instead of cannabis. Then our justice system would not blame them.
Tags: Skirmantas Bikelis Limited Cannabis Legalization Protect German Children
