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Germany to Legalize Cannabis?

The CDU, a staunchly conservative party and the leading political party in Germany may have come around to the idea of legalizing and regulating the cannabis market in Germany. In a surprising union they issued a joint statement on cannabis via the news channel ARD. An unexpected move considering the two parties generally don't agree much on ideas.

The spokesman on economic policy for the Christian Democratic Union Joachim Pfeiffer, and Dieter Janecek of the Green Party in Germany issued a statement declaring that they believe criminalization no longer makes sense. Every year between 1-2 billion euros are spent on prosecuting cannabis consumers. If legalized and taxed the government could make 2 billion euros a year from the taxes on cannabis.

"Only a regulated market for cannabis can effectively combat organized crime"

"Nur ein regulierte Markt für Cannabis kann organisierte Kriminalität wirksam bekämpfen"

-quote from statement

We spoke with Ziggi Jackson from Weed Star Glass about his thoughts on the cannabis situation in Germany:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsz-JHhUJck

Instead of criminalizing peaceful cannabis consumers the money could fund schools and healthcare. A similar system to Colorado, or another legal state in the USA could be setup, something that has already been shown to work.

However the health policy spokesman of the CDU parliamentary group, Jens Spahn and Minister of Health Hermann Gröhe aren't too happy about the statement on legalizing for recreational use but do agree that it should be available for medicinal use or decriminalized in small amounts.

Any change to free up the restrictions of use, possession and sale of cannabis would benefit Germany, especially its heavily restricted medical marijuana program that currently only treats a few hundred people, with high cost, low quality medicine.

Stay tuned for more updates on the cannabis situation in Germany and around the world!!

Source: http://www.tagesschau.de/inland/cannabis-legalisierung-101.html