Germany may avoid a scenario where marijuana legalization is delayed as advocates have worried in recent weeks, with top cabinets official pledging to make certain changes to the legislation passed by parliament in hopes of averting a mediation committee referral.
While the Bundestag passed the cannabis legalization bill last month, there’s been an expectation that the Bundesrat, a body known as the Federal Council that represents individual German states, would vote to recommend the committee referral during a meeting scheduled for Friday, which would push back the implementation by six months, from April to October.
To prevent that delay, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, who has for months been the government’s lead on the cannabis plan, has proposed a “protocol declaration” to the Federal Council ahead of the vote that aims to address members’ outstanding concerns about issues such as youth prevention, reduced cultivation canopy sizes and zoning requirements for social clubs that could eventually distribute marijuana to adults.
State Health Minister Petra Köpping of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) said on Tuesday that Lauterbach “promised” him that he would enact the revisions and signaled the move may avoid a situation where the Bundesrat votes to refer the bill to a
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