European Officials Meet to Discuss Adult-Use Cannabis Reforms

Officials from Luxembourg, Germany, The Netherlands, and Malta met in Luxembourg last week to discuss adult-use cannabis reforms, RTL Today reports. At a press conference held after the meeting at Senningen Castle in Niederanven, Luxembourg’s Minister of Health Paulette Lenert stressed that “it is important to stick together” when taking on new challenges, and that current policies “did not deliver the results that they should” have.

Lenert said the officials are up against a growing illicit market that “works according to a market logic, which means that there is an increasing amount of cheap rubbish on the market.” If not confronted, she said the underground market could become “a real danger for the health and security of everybody,” the report says.

Minister of Justice Sam Tanson gave other reasons for reconsidering cannabis policy like “not pushing people into criminality for things that do not belong there.”

Malta was the first country in the European Union to legalize adult-use cannabis while Germany’s minister of health announced last month that the country had begun planning its move to end cannabis prohibition, with the legalization bill formally expected later this year. Luxemburg passed cannabis decriminalization in 2021 while The Netherlands has long been known for lax cannabis policy, although officials there have hesitated to make more significant reforms.

Additionally, other EU member nations including Spain and Greece have legalized access to medical cannabis.