Tag: Europe

One of the most popular talking points for cannabis prohibitionists is the ‘what about the children?’ talking point. Cannabis opponents go to that talking point early and often whenever cannabis reform is being proposed in any jurisdiction, including in Europe.

In recent years medical cannabis reform has spread across the European continent, with countless patients now being able to safely access medical cannabis products where they live. Not all countries’ medical cannabis programs are created equal, as proven by a comparison between the United Kingdom and Germany.

Germany is home to the most well-established medical cannabis program in Europe and the largest medical cannabis industry on the continent. Patients can easily acquire medical cannabis products from licensed pharmacies. Compare that to the United Kingdom where only three patients had received any medical cannabis products as of last summer.

With so much medical cannabis reform sweeping the European continent, many are wondering if it had any impact on youth consumption rates on the continent? After all, cannabis opponents tried so hard to convince people that reforming cannabis laws would lead to a doomsday scenario in Europe. A study was recently conducted that sought to answer that question, and spoiler alert – it was not favorable to the claims of cannabis opponents.

Youth Consumption Rates Spanning 20+ Years

A team of researchers in Sweden recently examined data of self-reported cannabis use spanning a period from 1994 to 2017. During that span of time many countries in Europe reformed their cannabis laws in one way or another, including the countries where data was sourced from (Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and United Kingdom).

“Cannabis policy varies greatly across European countries, but evidence of how such policy impacts on recreational cannabis use among young people is conflicting. This study aimed to clarify this association by investigating how changes in cannabis legislation influenced cannabis use.” the study’s authors stated.

“Available data on self-reports of recreational cannabis use among individuals aged 15-34 years was retrieved from EMCDDA. Information on cannabis policy changes was categorized as more lenient (decriminalisation or depenalisation) or stricter (criminalisation, penalisation). Countries that had implemented changes in cannabis legislation or had information on prevalence of use for at least eight calendar years, were eligible for inclusion. We used interrupted time-series linear models to investigate changes in country-specific trajectories of prevalence over calendar time and in relation to policy changes.” the researchers stated regarding their methodology.

The researchers concluded that “Our findings do not support any considerable impact of cannabis legislation on the prevalence of recreational cannabis use among youth and young adults in Europe.”

The Same Will Likely Prove True For Adult-Use Legalization

Europe’s cannabis community experienced a major milestone at the end of last year when Malta became the first country on the continent to legalize cannabis for adult use. The new law makes it legal for adults to cultivate, possess, and consume cannabis. The measure will also legalize cannabis clubs, although it will not legalize adult-use sales.

Legalization efforts are well underway in other European countries as well, with Luxembourg, Germany, and possibly Italy legalizing cannabis for adult use in the near future. That will increase pressure on other countries, including Spain where our next event will be held in March, to ramp up adult-use legalization efforts as well.

Unfortunately, that ramping up of legalization efforts across the continent will likely be paralleled by claims from cannabis opponents that cannabis legalization will result in a stoned youth epidemic. Feel free to point to the results of the study contained in this article to debunk their claims. Just as those claims proved to be unfounded when it came to medical cannabis reform, the same will likely be true for adult-use reform.

The discussion has moved forward increasingly faster this year, in large part after September because of the new German government’s decision to enact federal recreational reform as of 2022

In every revolution, there is a tipping point in time – and on the topic of recreational cannabis reform and Europe, this is indeed that moment.

Significant reform is now in the offing in several European countries, beyond Switzerland, starting of course, with Germany. The pace-setting country is in this space in part because of its population and rich economy. It is also clear because of recent political developments that include the decision in 2017 to move forward on federal medical reform as well as the newly announced decision by the newly formed Traffic Light Coalition to enact recreational reform as early as next year.

Beyond Germany, of course, there have been, particularly in the last quarter of the year, significant announcements, and progress reports all over Europe. Malta just announced that they are in fact the first mover on a recreational market in the EU, with Luxembourg likely to be a hair’s whisker behind with a market that at least at first, looks remarkably similar.

Portugal is also not out for the count – with a government snap election pushing back the inevitability of reform here as well – now almost certain to be reintroduced next year if only to keep pace with the Germans. Italy is also likely to move forward with at least a reform that allows home grow if not like Luxembourg and Malta, the public sale of seeds.

In the Czech Republic, the increased blending of medical and recreational markets (namely the use of GACP rather than GMP cannabis in the medical market) is also a model that is likely to have some kind of impact on blended markets going forward. See Switzerland as the prime European example of the same, even if not in the EU.

Do not forget that Greece is still also moving forward on the development of its medical market, as is neighbour to the north, North Macedonia.

Spain is also likely to finally move forward on some kind of regulation of its coffee shop trade, particularly as Holland also moves, however slowly and painfully, to a national model of regulatory reform and procedure.

Denmark is also likely to announce the details of its own recreational trial too, especially as the medical market continues to take shape.

In short, 2021 has been much like the U.S. in 2012 where two American states – Colorado and Washington State, voted to create recreational markets. The difference, of course, is that all this reform in Europe is of the federal kind.

Regional Reform & The Outliers

There are still a few larger fights on the horizon, both on the sovereign and then of course regional level. Outliers even in the medical discussion include not just France but Poland as well as other countries particularly in the eastern part of the region.

On a regional level, expect recreational reform to move far more slowly. There is still wide disagreement on the implementation of this kind of guidance even in the low THC, hemp market.

Regardless, the cannabis genie is out of the bottle here, as of this year. And no matter when actual sales now begin to happen, it will never be stuffed back.