Left calls for the introduction of cannabis clubs

The Left calls for establishment of cannabis clubs

24/01/2012

The Left has made another attempt to legalize cannabis. The party calls for a petition that will be discussed tomorrow in a Bundestag hearing, that so-called cannabis clubs should be introduced, where the cultivation of cannabis for its members is allowed. The proposal of the Left Party is largely portrayed in the German media landscape as "absurd", although such clubs are now operated successfully in the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain with permission or toleration of the authorities.

According to the Left, there is an urgent need for a rethinking of drug policies. The criminalization of cannabis must come to an end and a new debate on the drug policy course in Germany should be conducted. To this end, the party proposes the introduction of cannabis clubs, which should allow their members a legal access to cannabis.

Cannabis clubs are supposed to grow hemp
„We want to get away from the demonization“ of cannabis, the drug policy spokesman of the Left Bundestag faction, Frank Tempel, told the news agency „dpa“ the current push of his party. According to the Left, hemp cultivation should be allowed in cannabis clubs, with facilities of no commercial interest in cannabis cultivation for its members. „The required expertise“ for hemp cultivation in cannabis clubs „is to be proven by the association board“, discusses the left in her application. By the decriminalization to the presentation of the party and the education, the protection of minors and prevention to be promoted. If all the money saved by legalizing cannabis during prosecution were instead put into risk education and the protection of minors, it would probably be possible in the long term to actually achieve a significant reduction in the number of consumers. In addition, the establishment of cannabis clubs could make a significant contribution to the fight against the black market. Generally allowed should be the possession of 30 grams of dried cannabis, demanded the left.

200,000 people with problem cannabis use
In Germany, the data shows that about 200,000 people have problematic cannabis use. The total number of users is in the millions. While consumption is legal, cultivation, possession and distribution remain illegal until today, which means for consumers that they are always on the verge of legality or illegality. Therefore, for years, both the Left and Alliance 90 / The Greens have called for drug policy reform. Various forms of legalization have already been discussed, but so far both the Union and the FDP have firmly opposed the release of cannabis. Thus, the spokeswoman for drug policy of the FDP parliamentary group, Christine Aschenberg-Dugnus, also in relation to the current application of the left to the news agency „dpa“, you „do not think anything about cannabis clubs.“

SPD with reservations about cannabis clubs
The SPD has so far made a highly ambivalent picture regarding the legalization of cannabis. As emphasized the drug policy spokeswoman of the SPD faction, Angelika Graf, who „dpa“, that they are facing the establishment of cannabis club „a whole series of reservations“ Has. Graf complained, for example, that the access to cultivated cannabis by the clubs can hardly be limited to members. However, the SPD politician said at the same time that a reform for pure consumers is required. „Here we should think something over“, because it makes little sense that vary in the federal states, the impunity entrusted maximum amounts between six and 15 grams of cannabis possession.

German Hanfverband welcomes the request of the left
Georg Wurth from the German Hanfverband, which will be invited as an expert in the hearing in the German Bundestag, welcomed the initiative of the left in a first statement. "Cannabis cultivation clubs have many advantages: consumers are finally no longer pursued and are safe from dangerous diluents, the black market is pushed back, the clubs do not smoke a gram, but the supply would be more sensible." Wurth pointed out that cannabis clubs have long since been introduced in neighboring European countries. In addition to Holland, there are such clubs in Spain or Belgium. There are currently more than 200 clubs with several thousands of members operating, working closely with the government agencies. Only persons over the age of 18 have access. In Belgium, there is currently such an association with around 150
Members who are now at least tolerated by the authorities. In Germany, the discussion must now also be driven forward.

Renewed discussion on the legalization of cannabis
A renewed discussion on the legalization of cannabis seems justified even against the background of the latest medical findings on possible health effects of cannabis use. So had US researchers in early January in the journal „Journal of the American Medical Association“ presented the results of a long-term study demonstrating that regular cannabis use of about one joint per day does not negatively impact lung function - and may even improve it. In addition, the use of cannabis in Germany according to the drug report in 2011 according to the Federal Drug Commissioner, according to anyway declining. For example, a representative survey of the Federal Center for Health Education showed that the proportion of young people who have tried cannabis at least once in their lives, from the highest value in 2004 (15.1 percent) to 7.4 percent a year Fell in 2010. (Fp)

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Picture credits: Henning Hraban Ramm