German party wants 'Cannabis Clubs'
The Left party in Germany has called for a change in the states attitude towards drugs, they have said they want ‘cannabis clubs’ where Germans can become members and grow marijuana plants, they also believe that consumers should be allowed to own 30 grams of cannabis for personal consumption.
The proposals were put forward by the Left party’s drug police advisor, Frank Tempel who said “A cannabis ban is the legal model that has the least acceptance”. Tempel said the ban had the opposite effect to what was intended by banning drugs the state was actually encouraging drug use due to the fact that it limits public education.
The ban according to him has had no influence in the decision of people to take drugs and he estimates that between 3.5 to 4 million Germans consume drugs. It is his belief that the state has got it’s priorities wrong and instead of focusing on criminalization the state should focus on prevention, controlling the drug market and protecting youth.
The response from other parties was to these proposals mostly negative the Christian Democratic Union said that cannabis clubs would merely encourage drug use among young people and The Free Democratic Party said the idea was “well-meaning intoxication socialism”.
The Social Democrats did not agree with the idea but said there was a need for a unified nationwide cannabis law. This is somewhat true too the amount that a consumer is allowed currently varies from state to state with the allowance being as little as 6 grams to as much as 15 grams.
The Left Party is the forth largest party in Germany and has 12.2% of the seats in the Budestag. On 22nd of October 2011 delegates during party congress voted in favour of “long-term legalisation of all drugs”. On their web site they state that they advocate a “humane and medically ‘ viable alternative to current drug laws which involves the ‘liberalisation’ of narcotic laws.
