NEUE REGELUNGEN IN EUROPAS CANNABIS PARADIES UND ANDERE NEWS

IN THE MELTING POT – CHANGES IN EUROPE’S CANNABIS PARADISE AND OTHER GLOBAL NEWS

Imagine a city. Imagine a city that loses its charm to rowdy tourists taking over the streets to party without respecting its residents and culture. A city centre lost to overtourism. In Amsterdam that is a daily reality and reason for the city to introduce several changes to bring back a more peaceful way of living to the popular neighbourhoods. Part of the restrictions: The ban of smoking weed outdoors within the red-light district. Join us for a little dive into the global news of cannabis around the world.

AMSTERDAM: CHANGES WITHIN EUROPE’s CANNABIS PARADISE

If within a famous tourist destination, even tourists start complaining there are too many tourists: The struggle is real. For years the quality of living within the old city centre of Amsterdam has been affected by mass tourism. With a number of 22 million overnight stays per year before the pandemic, a citizens initiative has campaigned for a cap of 20 million. Successfully!

Followed by the plan to outlaw smoking cannabis in the streets of its famous red-light district from mid May. A further measure involved, aiming to improve a more peaceful centre living again, is the ban of alcohol sales after 4pm from Thursday to Sunday in supermarkets within the inner district. A curfew regulates the limit for cafes and restaurants to stay open latest to 2am Friday and Saturday. “Window time” refers to alcohol serving businesses needing to close at 1 am.

And that possibly will be followed by a ban of smoking cannabis on coffeeshop terraces.  As well as there is the consideration to prohibit the selling of it to tourists in coffeeshops should all not lead to a somewhat acceptable change. By denying them the right to purchase, the hope links to take more influence on the behaviour of those that do not have the idea of what it means to respect the lives of others, in that case local people.

Maybe it’s just time, for all visiting such a beautiful place on earth, to treat it as wanting to be treated in their own home. That might wont reduce the number of tourists, but the walkways filled with garbage and screaming crowds wandering around at night disturbing the peace of others. Cause at the end, the restrictions go on cost of the once that should be least affected. Businesses as well as the cannabis industry, that is globally working on the legalisation of a plant that provenly can positively impact health.

ISRAEL: NUMBER OF MEDICAL CANNABIS USAGE DROPS

Speaking of health, Israel is known to be the country with the highest number of patients for medical cannabis per capita. With research and innovation being fully supported by the Ministry of Health. The number of around 123.000 people being eligible for the treatment with the hemp plant substance, marked a height that was reached at the beginning of the year. But despite it all, the process of receiving the permission got slowed down and for the first time in years, numbers decreased since. Reason being that the access is limited to extremely specified diseases and permissions need to be requested by a physician, let’s say in a not too easy bureaucratic way.

Which is why a committee of the Ministry of Health had pushed towards a new regulatory structure already in July 2022. Mainly to easify the prescription and by doing so, it is expected the numbers could rise to 250.000 patients really fast. But the ongoing changes within the government over the last years keep putting hold on the movement, also towards the idea of legalising recreational marijuana. Having been on the agenda for quite a while, a bill regulating it was rejected in summer 2021.

Classified as personal use, having up to 15 g of weed and with the reality being that cannabis is part of today’s society also in Israel, there actually are more places where smoking weed is tolerated in public places than in certain countries where it is legal, like Canada. Especially in Tel Aviv the tolerance towards it is remarkable and surely a nice to know fact. So as a matter of time, it is the waiting game until the realisation of a change of law and a more simple system of bureaucracy for medical usage.

And lets not forget, the country hosts some of the world`s elite cannabis factories and surely is capable of producing high end quality products. Which might not come as a surprise, considering that it was Prof. Raphael Mechoulam of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem that isolated Δ 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive chemical of the marijuana plant in 1960. Him and his team were bringing groundbreaking studies on the way, in which suddenly it was proven that THC offers a variety of medicinal benefits such as pain relief. Sadly he passed at the age of 92 in March this year. During his lifetime he received numerous awards for his significant work that surely has impacted the entire view towards marijuana.

CALLING +420 – CZECH REPUBLIC CANNABIS LEGALISATION

Cause who knows where any idea of legalisation would be without his scientific studies and achievements. What we do know, is that our neighbouring country Czech Republic is working on the implementation of a regulated cannabis market. Fully legal, but regulated. The reform includes points on prevention, consumption, sale and advertising and could be introduced with all its details by the end of June 2023.

Just as numerous European Union countries, including neighbour Germany, Czech Republic aims to control a black market and rather gets shown an ID and proven age, then seeing someone buy illegally, without any control of quality or origin of the substance. If it was in the hands of national anti-drug policy coordinator Jindřich Vobořil, the passing of regulatories was done by the end of 2022, but several voices had been raised, including the once from the Health Ministry and Finance Ministry and so the delay was the only done deal there was. Realistically 2024 could be the time with the law coming into place.

In controversy, last week’s news revealed that there is a plan to ban CBD products. Initiated by the  Minister of Agriculture Zdeněk Nekula and based on the EU novel food regulation that questions the safety of foods including CBD alongside the lack of information on products. So far there is no time given when the related measures could be taken into place that would mean the removal of capsules, gummies and edibles as well as of a range of cosmetic products.

SWITZERLAND IMPLEMENTING TRIAL ON CANNABIS CONSUMPTION

But let’s go back to the business of good news: A trial with the aim to assess social and economic benefits of Cannabis starting in summer will legalise the consumption for 2100 Zurich residents.

With a growing number of European states liberalising weed, the Swiss government rethinks its own regulations. The data collected in collaboration with the University of Zurich will be a main factor on how that possibly can look like. Set for six months, the participants undergo an ongoing questionnaire and are allowed access to a variety of Cannabis products through pharmacies.

According to statistics, approximately one third of adults in Switzerland have tried marijuana. So somehow it is not deniable the plant deserves its right to legal existence. And that might be the reason that same studies are carried out in Geneva, Lausanne, Basel, Bern and Winterthur.

GERMANY – DRAFT LAW PRESENTED

And in Germany? At the beginning of April, Health Minister Prof. Dr. Karl Lauterbach published the key data for the legalisation of cannabis. Now the first draft law is ready for an internal government vote. And even if changes are still to be expected, strict conditions for the cannabis clubs planned for dispensing are more than likely. Fenced and at least 250 metres distanced from schools, day-care centres and other facilities, the consumption is planned to be prohibited within a certain distance, which also applies for within the clubs.

The free sale of cannabis is still a pipe dream. Only with the second pillar being in place, after pilot projects in selected municipalities, could there be another law.

It remains to be seen what the agreement with the ministries will bring. The next round will be a hearing with the associations. This will be followed by the Federal Cabinet and then deliberation in Bundestag. Since it does not require the approval of the Bundesrat, we can actually still hope for an implementation by the end of this year. But let’s handle that with care…

+420 is not just the country code for the Czech Republic, but also what we could refer to all the way. Every day. And hopefully it will also stand for a Pro-Cannabis Germany soon. Let’s see. And we surely like to see it together with you and are always happy to talk, share or just introduce you to all things CBD… and Cannabis knowledge. Come visit us around the world.

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