Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:


After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.

Finland: MPs reject citizens' initiative to legalise cannabis

YLE News

Wednesday 18 Feb 2026

The citizens' initiative was started in 2022.

Finnish lawmakers on Wednesday voted by a wide margin to reject a citizens' initiative calling for the legalisation of cannabis.

The votes fell 145-18, with no abstentions and 36 MPs absent.

The decision followed a recommendation in December by the Legal Affairs Committee that the proposal be rejected. The committee said it based its decision on a report by the Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).

THL's report stated that the use of cannabis can be addictive and potentially lead to a number of harms, despite noting that the substance is far less harmful than many other intoxicants.

Votes to reject the initiative came from a majority of the governing National Coalition Party, the Finns Party, the Swedish People's Party and the Christian Democrats.

Regarding opposition parties, the votes against the measure were cast by a broad majority of the Social Democrats and the Centre Party.

The votes in favour of the measure came from the Green Party and the Left Alliance.

Second initiative in recent years

The citizens' initiative to legalise cannabis was started in 2022. It garnered the required 50,000 signature mark — enabling its submission to parliament — the following year.

The initiative called for the legalisation of the use, possession, personal cultivation, manufacture and sale of cannabis in Finland, subject to age restrictions.

It also proposed the establishment of a regulatory system for the production and sale of cannabis comparable to those regulating other intoxicants, with the aim of minimizing harms.

A previous citizens' initiative to decriminalise cannabis reached the required 50,000 signatures in 2019. However, in April 2022, the Legal Affairs Committee voted to reject it.

https://yle.fi/a/74-20211094

 

 

 

After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back. 




This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.

Feel free to link to this page!