Joining Canada in North America and Uruguay in South America, Luxembourg became the first European country to legalize the growing of cannabis for recreational use.
Some nations, such as the Netherlands and Portugal, allow medicinal use and other specifics, but this small country has agreed that it’s time to let adults make their own decisions about what substances they want to consume.
Under a new suite of legislation, adults in Luxembourg will be able to cultivate up to four plants for personal use, and carry up to three grams on their person. It is still illegal to consume in public, though fines will be drastically reduced.
Limits on the THC content of the cannabis will be abolished. Sales and distribution will also be unregulated, opening new avenues of taxable income for the government to use on “addiction prevention, education, and health care,” officials said.
“We thought we had to act, we have an issue with drugs, and cannabis is the drug that is most used and is a large part of the illegal market,” said Justice minister Sam Tanson.
“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.”
As has been the case with 11 of the 50 U.S. states, each progressive decision to decriminalize and deregulate has made it easier for subsequent legislative bodies to take the plunge. As such, Luxembourg’s neighbor, Germany, who’s welcoming a new government that includes the Green Party, is thought to be a likely follower, as they have supported recreational use of cannabis in the past.
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Now, as DW reports, members of the new coalition the Social Democrats and the Free Democrats, are also favoring legalization.
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