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UK: German medical association objects to cannabis plan Sharmila Devi The Lancet Saturday 16 Sep 2023 Government proposals to legalise consumption of cannabis in private clubs have been criticised for their potential effects on young people. Sharmila Devi reports. A German Government plan for the “controlled legalisation” of cannabis that could come into force next year has met with opposition from a range of groups including the German Medical Association, judicial and law enforcement officials, as well as those who favour decriminalisation but say it is too bureaucratic. The plan would allow the distribution of cannabis to members of cannabis clubs aged over 18 years. Those aged 18–21 years will be limited to buying 30 g per month, while adults aged over 21 years can buy 50 g per month. The German Medical Association said the plan, announced on Aug 16 by Karl Lauterbach, Germany's Health Minister, did “not stand up to sober critical examination”. “The Federal Health Minister studied medicine. He knows—and has himself publicly pointed out—that the development processes of the brain are not yet complete by the age of 25 and that the consumption of cannabis can have a negative impact on these processes”, said a statement by Klaus Reinhardt, President of the German Medical Association. “As a result, numerous representatives of the relevant scientific societies have pointed this out loud and clear in the past few months as part of the public debate on the legalisation of cannabis. Despite these serious health risks, Minister Lauterbach will allow legal access to cannabis to people as young as 18 years. This is not youth protection”, he said. A youth information campaign about the risks of cannabis will accompany the legislation and consumption will not be allowed within 200 m of schools, playgrounds, or sport facilities and will also be banned from the premises of non-profit cannabis clubs, each of which will be allowed to grow cannabis and be limited to 500 members. Reinhardt said judicial and regulatory bodies in Germany were already “hopelessly overburdened”. “Should they also count cannabis plants in private homes with their scarce staff in the future or measure minimum distances from hemp plantations to schools and daycare centres?” he asked. “Such completely unrealistic regulations do not strengthen the protection of minors but they organise the state's loss of control.” The plan, which still needs approval by the German Parliament, was opposed by some who favour the legalisation of cannabis but agree it does not protect young people because they will not be allowed to consume cannabis within the cannabis clubs where they could be supervised. “Youth protection is very important to us and forbidding consumption in clubs makes no sense because we won't be able to see if there are any problems”, Oliver Waack-Jürgensen, head of the Berlin-based High Ground cannabis social club and who is also on the board of a national association representing such clubs, told The Lancet. “The only good thing in this plan is that it takes cannabis out of the narcotics law. We don't want commercialisation of cannabis but we do need licensed dispensaries and we will continue to lobby the Government”, he said. The Government's original plan of licensed outlets across the country was scaled back following consultations with the European Commission and the Government is planning a pilot of regulated stores that would be evaluated by researchers. But such an evaluation would mean little because of the failure to record baseline data, for example, on the strength and potency of cannabis currently purchased from illegal dealers, Jakob Manthey, a psychologist at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (Hamburg, Germany) and the University of Leipzig (Leipzig, Germany), told The Lancet. “The Government's plan is reasonable and cautious in that it isn't making the same mistakes seen in North America with the commercialisation of cannabis markets but it hasn't invested in baseline measurement so I'm sceptical about any comprehensive evaluation”, said Manthey. The recreational use of cannabis has been legalised in many US states where an industry including shops and products including cannabis sweets has created a multi-billion-dollar market. Scientific knowledge gaps include those around the exact effect of cannabis on brain development, what is considered a safe dosage, what are the many compounds found in cannabis, and what qualifies as addiction, Ryan Sultan, Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia Irving Medical Center (New York, NY, USA), told The Lancet. Deepak D’Souza, Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine (New Haven, CT, USA), said he worried that it might take decades to gain widespread understanding of the risks posed by cannabis just as it did for tobacco. “We already know about the links between cannabis and schizophrenia, depression and mental health”, he said. “The genie is being let out of the bottle with legalisation around the world and if I were in Germany, I would be concerned.” https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)01958-X/fulltext
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