Cannabis legalization in Germany anticipated in 2023, according to the German finance minister

There is currently no other country on earth as exciting as Germany in the fight to legalize cannabis for adult use. After being chosen to form a new coalition government in Germany late last year, the so-called “Traffic Light Coalition” quickly stated that it wanted to make cannabis legal for adult use and establish a regulated market. Since then, speculation has raged about how long it will take Germany to make the change. The country’s Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) recently added to the discussion by projecting that legalization will happen in 2023.

Not A Simple Task

Given that cannabis prohibition is the national policy for German consumers and that prohibition is a harmful, failed public policy, some cannabis advocates are frustrated with the current legalization process in Germany. Nevertheless, it’s critical to maintain perspective. Even though Germany may not have been the first country to introduce an adult-use market on a large scale, it is undoubtedly the first to try.

Only Uruguay, Canada, and Malta have legalized cannabis above low-THC levels on a national level. The population of Germany is roughly equivalent to the combined population of the other three nations. The economies of those other nations combined do not even come close to matching the size of Germany’s economy. In contrast to the other three legal nations, Germany has a shared border with nine nations, many of which have sizable populations and economies. Germany needs to legalize marijuana without a doubt, but it must be done properly, which will take time.
As was mentioned earlier in this article, Germany’s legalization of cannabis is not happening in a vacuum. The campaign to legalize cannabis in Germany will largely serve as the “guidebook” for initiatives elsewhere, so every legislator and regulator who wants to see it legalized around the world is closely monitoring developments there right now. Every aspect of Germany’s future cannabis policy must be subject to some level of consensus, and many stakeholders must be given the chance to voice their opinions.

While this is going on, legislators and regulators are developing plans and strategies without having any real idea of the level of demand that Germany will experience once legal sales start. Germany is a very different animal from the current legal nations, so comparisons are not useful. Currently, anyone of legal age can buy something in Canada, which is the only place on earth that allows this. Uruguay restricts sales to its citizens, and Malta lacks any kind of industry regulatory framework. Even if those nations had systems similar to those in Canada, they wouldn’t make for good comparisons.
Domestic and foreign customers will undoubtedly swarm retail establishments at levels essentially unheard of in the nascent global cannabis industry when Germany legalizes cannabis for adult use.