A bill to legalize marijuana in Germany is officially on the legislative agenda for next week, signaling that plans to enact the reform by April are on track.
Advocates are cheering the development in the Bundestag, though the planned vote in the Finance Committee on Wednesday will need to be followed up with action by the Health Committee and then the full chamber.
The move to place the legislation on the agenda comes about two weeks after leaders of Germany’s so-called traffic light coalition government announced that they’d reached a final agreement, resolving outstanding concerns, primarily from the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
Lawmakers said the bill, originally brought forward last year by Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, was being slightly revised to expand and expedite monitoring and reporting requirements related to the illicit market.
Georg Wurth, an activist and CEO of the German Hemp Association, said on Wednesday that the scheduling of the Finance Committee vote “makes it extremely unlikely that it will be stopped again now,” according to a translation.
“Other committees, especially health, and the Bundestag itself are likely to follow through next week,” he said.
Das #CanG steht für nächsten Mittwoch auf der Tagesordnung des Finanzausschusses.
Read full article on Marijuana Moment
