Germany recently allowed the restricted consumption of cannabis, but clubs that grow and share the plant say they are experiencing challenging levels of bureaucracy.
Nico Schack was hoping to take advantage of Germany’s new laws permitting the possession of cannabis, but his dream of setting up a club to share the drugs with others in Berlin is on the move.
Instead, he’s decided to set up an office in the neighbouring state of Brandenburg because he says the process for getting a licence in the capital city has been so slow and unclear.
“I think that a lot of clubs are very unsure now, because the requirements are very high, and that they still wanted to wait, maybe to have a clear situation and to know that the application will be also positive,” said Schack, the CEO of Bunte Blüte.
Visiting a club that grows and shares cannabis is one of the ways consumers can now access the drug since its consumption was made legal in Germany in April, albeit with restrictions.
However, applicants to set up said clubs are experiencing different levels of bureaucracy depending on the state.
Berlin’s local government told Euronews that the city’s health department should be handling their approval, but an analysis of the costs needs to be carried out first. In the meantime, districts will take them on, in a process applicants describe as cumbersome.
The slow process is a particular hindrance for users in Berlin, which has a significantly higher cannabis use compared to the national average. A 2021 survey found that more than half of Berliners have consumed cannabis at least once.
Alex Khourdaji, an analyst with research company Prohibition Partners, said the challenges could push users to illegal sources.
“A lot of people that were going to set up felt like that it was too bureaucratic, so they decided not to set up cannabis cultivation associations,” he said. “Now, with less cannabis cultivation association that leaves many consumers in the dark, and it does give them the attitude, or the feeling that they might have to revert back to the illicit market.”
Khourdaji added that many are turning to growing their own cannabis.
A report by Prohibition Partners stated that creating cannabis clubs is a “time-consuming and strenuous process”.
While owning cannabis has been legalised, it has not stopped the black market, and residents can buy it illegally at parks in central Berlin.
Making it illegal again?
The continued illicit selling of the drug could play into the hands of opponents of its legalisation, eventually leading to the reversal of the law that permitted it in the first place.
The conservative Christian Democratic party (CDU), which is leading in the polls, told Euronews that undoing the law will be a priority after next year’s election.
The party said there had been a massive increase in drug related crime, but the health ministry told Euronews in response that such crime statistics are not yet available for this year.
“Legalising cannabis was a huge mistake,” wrote Tino Sorge, a CDU MP and health policy spokesman for the CDU and its sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU), in a statement to Euronews.
“The consequences for children’s and young peoples’ health cannot yet be predicted at all,” he said. “It is therefore of high priority for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group to reverse this law and to stop the harmful effects after the next elections.”
As for Schack, the uncertainty surrounding the implementation of the legalisation of cannabis has dampened the once celebratory mood.
“I was waiting for the legalisation and fighting for it for many years, so, of course, I was very excited and looking forward to it when it was announced,” he said. “But now everybody is a little bit disappointed.”
