Luxembourg will become the first country in Europe to allow home-grown cannabis.
getty
For the first time in Europe, Luxembourg has passed laws that will allow residents aged 18 and over to grow up to four cannabis plants legally in their house or garden exclusively for personal use.
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg joins only two other countries in the world — Uruguay and Canada — and 11 states in the U.S. that have legalized the cultivation and distribution of cannabis.
ForbesNo More Cannabis Tourism In Barcelona? Court Overturns Regulations On ‘Clubes Cannábicos’By
A European milestone
According to the Luxembourg government’s announcement on Friday, the new legislation is intended to address the problem of drug-related crimes by introducing fundamental changes in the country’s approach to recreational cannabis use and cultivation.
The decision by the small but financially powerful European country to legalize the production and consumption of the drug is a milestone on the continent where even the Netherlands — which paradoxically allows cannabis sales and consumption in authorized ‘coffee houses’ but bars its possession and sale.
The leaf that Luxembourg will allow at home
getty
“Luxembourg will tolerate the cannabis culture” blared The Luxembourger Wort, the country’s main daily newspaper.
“A first in Europe! The Ministers of Justice and Internal Security announced on Friday morning that each Luxembourg household will be able to have four cannabis plants,” the paper adds.
Consumption will only be legal within the household, although fines for the possession of maximum three grams in public will be reduced considerably from the current fine of up to €2,500 to as little as €25.
The selling of cannabis seeds will also be possible in shops and online without limits on the level of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive component of cannabis.
The current coalition government’s more ambitious cannabis decriminalization project had been rejected numerous times in the past, mostly due to international pressure, according to the local media.
Paving the way to state-regulated production
The official announcement was made on Friday by the Minister of Justice, Sam Tanson, during a press conference on reducing drug-related crime.
The new measures on domestic production and consumption, according to the minister, are the first steps on the way to state-regulated production and distribution, the revenues of which would be used for addiction prevention, education and health care.
ForbesNo More Cannabis Tourism In Amsterdam Post-CoronavirusBy
This is “a first step in our project to legalize recreational cannabis,” Tanson said. Further measures will be taken in 2023.
“We thought we had to act,” she said. “We have an issue with drugs, and cannabis is the drug that is most used and is a large part of the illegal market.
“We want to start by allowing people to grow it at home. The idea is that a consumer is not in an illegal situation if he consumes cannabis and that we don’t support the whole illegal chain from production to transportation to selling where there is a lot of misery attached. We want to do everything we can to get more and more away from the illegal black market.”
The legislation still faces a vote in the Chamber of Deputies and is expected to take effect in early 2022.
Source link : https://www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliarodriguez/2021/10/22/first-in-eu-growing-cannabis-for-personal-use-to-become-legal-in-luxembourg/
Author :
Publish date : 2021-10-22 07:00:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.