Judge In Germany Advocates For Treating Cannabis Like Alcohol

The cannabis advocacy slogan ‘regulate cannabis like alcohol’ originated in the State of Colorado in the United States as part of the successful 2012 state-level recreational cannabis legalization campaign. The sensible slogan was effective for many reasons and has since been incorporated by advocates in other jurisdictions.

According to international researchers at the World Health Organization, roughly 2.6 million deaths were caused by alcohol consumption in 2019 alone. Conversely, no human has ever died because of cannabinoid toxicity in recorded human history.

If adult humans can be trusted by world governments to consume alcohol responsibly, the same should be true for adults consuming cannabis responsibly, and public policies should reflect it. That is at the core of recent comments made by a judge in Germany.

“We should treat cannabis like alcohol,” stated German juvenile court judge Andreas Müller in a recent interview with Frankfurter Rundschau (translated from German to English). Judge Müller also described attempts to reverse adult-use cannabis legalization in Germany as “politics without common sense.”

Several changes to Germany’s current approach to cannabis regulation would need to be made for cannabis to be treated like alcohol, not the least of which is permitting retail sales of adult-use cannabis products.

Currently, adults in Germany can legally source recreational cannabis products in two ways. The first is to cultivate it themselves in their private residences. The second requires becoming a member of a licensed cultivation association. Roughly 133 cultivation associations have received approval in Germany so far.

Eventually, research-based pilot trials are expected to launch in Germany, which will provide another avenue for adult cannabis consumers to pursue. Unfortunately, robust nationwide retail sales like what is found in Canada are prohibited in Germany until European Union agreements are modernized.