Luxembourg steps up preparations for new legislation to fully legalise recreational cannabis. "After decades of repressive policies, we have acknowledged that this policy does not work, that it did not meet expectations. So it's time to change mindsets, change our concepts and try something else," said Health Minister Étienne Schneider, who is also vice prime minister. Luxembourg wouldn't become a cannabis tourism hotspot, mainly because non-residents wouldn't be allowed to buy it. "It is not about meddling in [other EU countries'] national policies, but simply of discussing the observations we made in Luxembourg," Schneider said. "I hope that this Luxembourg initiative will also have a positive impact on the other countries of the European Union."

Pacientes, consumidores lúdicos y empresarios miran con grandes esperanzas al nuevo Gobierno para que regule el cannabis, como mínimo para usos medicinales e idealmente de manera integral. Una encuesta reciente del Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS) mostró que 84% de las personas encuestadas se mostraron favorables a una regulación medicinal y los que aprobarían la integral (47%) superan a los que mantendrían la prohibición (41%). Casi todas las fuentes consultadas están convencidas de que la regulación es más una cuestión de tiempo que de incertidumbre. También es cierto que esto se repite como un mantra desde hace unos cuatro o cinco años y nada ha cambiado. (Manifiesto del GEPCA sobre la necesidad de una regulación integral del cannabis)

The International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) sent an open letter to the members of the Horizontal Working Party on Drugs (HDG) to reject the EU Drugs Agenda. The German EU presidency is now in charge of revising it. It was revealed at the online annual plenary meeting of the Civil Society Forum on Drugsthat Member States did not accept the new EU Drugs Agendaproposed by the EU Commission. The HDG decided that a new EU strategy will be prepared by the German presidency. In a previous article we made some critical remarks about the new EU Drugs Agenda presented by the EU Commission.

The European Union is currently a hotchpotch of different approaches to cannabis use, ranging from complete prohibition to different levels of decriminalisation and tolerance. Even in liberal enclaves like Barcelona and Amsterdam, the sale of cannabis from licensed clubs or outlets, is only allowed on murky legal grounds. But legalisation remains a rarity, with only Luxembourg preceding Malta in plans to legalise home-growing of a limited number of plants. But that is about to change as Germany, the EU’s economic powerhouse and most populous and influential country, is set to embark on legalisation, which could well have an impact across the continent.

Thousands of small producers have made Albania, Europe’s second-poorest country, its biggest open-air producer of cannabis, exported mainly to western Europe through Greece and Italy. But as Albania tries to clean up its act ahead of hoped-for EU accession talks next year, the government is cracking down on the drug trade. In the past year alone, the area under plantation has dropped by 75 per cent. In the desperately poor countryside, there is a strong economic imperative to grow the crop. Cannabis cultivation provides a cash income in rural areas, where the estimated unemployment rate is 70 per cent. Local growers are estimated to have earned around €300m last year, a similar amount to the annual remittances sent home by Albanians working in western Europe.

As Albania gears up for elections, one huge challenge facing the Balkan country has been low on the campaign agendas: the scourge of its cannabis fields, which threatens to hinder EU accession. Mountainous Albania is the main supplier of herbal cannabis trafficked to the European Union, says the bloc’s law enforcement agency, Europol. Despite Albania’s attempts to crack down on the illicit but lucrative trade, recent international reports said the scourge is yet to be brought under control – and that the criminal gangs behind it are escaping justice. (See also: Riding along with Albania's pot police | Albanian police go airborne for anti-cannabis offensive)

La semana pasada tendría que haberse presentado el borrador de ley para la legalización del cannabis en Alemania según los planes del ministro de Salud, Karl Lauterbach, a quién el Gobierno alemán ha encargado el proyecto. Pero no ha habido novedades. Según el medio alemán LTO, el retraso se debe en parte a que varios ministros estuvieron enfermos y no pudieron acudir a una reunión previa sobre el tema que estaba programada para el miércoles. Aún así, según las fuentes consultadas por el medio, el proyecto sigue sin estar acabado y hay novedades que apuntan a que el Gobierno prevé renunciar a una legalización que incluya la producción y venta de cannabis, al menos en un primer momento.

El Gobierno alemán presentó un proyecto de ley en el que se propone dar un paso hacia la legalización del consumo de cannabis este 2023, creando posibilidades de adquisición y cultivo legal dentro de ciertos límites. En un primer paso se abrirá la posibilidad de que se creen clubes de un máximo de 500 personas para sembrar cannabis. Los miembros de los clubes, que deberán ser mayores de 18 años, podrán comprar un máximo de 50 gramos al mes y de 25 gramos por día. También el cultivo privado, de hasta tres plantas, estará permitido. En un segundo paso, el Gobierno se propone crear un proyecto piloto que haga posible cadenas comerciales de suministro legales que puedan ser mejor controladas por el Estado. (Véase también: Alemania planea legalizar el consumo de cannabis, con límites)

Parece cada vez menos probable que se lleve a la práctica el plan de Alemania de legalizar el consumo de cannabis en 2024, pues aún tiene que someter su propuesta a la Comisión Europea, según ha confirmado el Ministerio de Sanidad alemán a Euronews. De acuerdo a este organismo, el proyecto de ley para la legalización del cannabis está en fase de borrador dentro del Gobierno federal. "Deben responderse y coordinarse un gran número de preguntas legales y operacionales sobre la implementación entre los ministerios implicados antes de que pueda entregarse a la Comisión Europa", añadía el correo electrónico de respuesta enviado. (Véase también: Alemania inicia el camino para legalizar la marihuana)

Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema believes that Europe should decriminalize the sale of cocaine, like various countries already allow the sale of cannabis. “But I am a realist and know that there is too little political support for such measures,” she said at the opening of a congress on organized crime organized by Justice Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius and attended by multiple European institutions and Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. She thinks countries need to look at drug use differently. “Let us face the facts: the war on drugs isn’t working. Seizing drugs is not working. And cocaine regulation isn’t in the picture either. I hope we can agree that we need to formulate an alternative strategy,” Halsema said. (See also: Ministers say legalising drugs won’t deter crime; new cooperation might)

It’s a leaf, it’s sold as a dye, and it’s used as a drug: It’s kratom, and it’s all the rage in the Czech Republic. Kratom is among the dozens of psychoactive substances emerging on Europe's recreational drugs scene every year. Some, like kratom, are fairly new to Europe but have been used in other parts of the world for hundreds of years. Others, so-called designer drugs, are concocted by recreational drugmakers to circumvent drug laws — hence their moniker, “legal highs.” They're drugs that fly under the radar, open to abuse but which don't (yet) fall under the purview of international drugs laws. And they create a cat-and-mouse game between policymakers and drug designers.

Bélgica y Holanda se han convertido en los grandes centros de tráfico de cocaína en Europa, superando a España como principal ruta de contrabando, indicó el martes (07.09.2021) Europol, la agencia policial de la Unión Europea. Aprovechando el aumento de la oferta de cocaína, sobre todo procedente de Colombia, las bandas criminales utilizan las ciudades portuarias de Róterdam, Hamburgo y, sobre todo, Amberes para enviar la droga a Holanda, desde donde se distribuye por toda Europa, según Europol.  "El epicentro del mercado de la cocaína en Europa se ha desplazado hacia el norte", afirmó Europol, que elaboró un informe de 27 páginas junto con la Oficina de Naciones Unidas contra la Droga y el Delito (ONUDD).

El narco se multiplica para seguir abasteciendo al mercado. El negocio del tráfico de drogas es más que nunca un monstruo de mil cabezas. El último informe anual del Observatorio Europeo sobre Drogas, presentado este jueves en Bruselas, así lo percibe, especialmente cuando se refiere a la cocaína. Las incautaciones de esta sustancia, la segunda más consumida tras el cannabis tanto en España como en Europa, están en su nivel más alto, pero su grado de pureza en la venta al por menor es el mayor en una década debido a que ha aumentado el volumen de producción. El diagnóstico es que la tecnología está cambiando el modus operandi en la distribución de cocaína.

Últimamente, se han observado indicios evidentes de un giro en los enfoques adoptados por los Gobiernos con respecto al cannabis recreativo. Uruguay en 2013 y Canadá en 2018, así como varios estados de los Estados Unidos desde 2012, han tomado medidas para controlar el cannabis a través de mercados regulados desde la semilla hasta la venta, en lugar de prohibirlo. Más recientemente, el nuevo presidente de México y el nuevo Gobierno de coalición de Luxemburgo y Malta también han anunciado su intención de regular el mercado del cannabis recreativo. Esta se considera cada vez más una vía más prometedora para proteger la salud y la seguridad de las personas, y ha cambiado el panorama de las políticas de drogas y los términos del debate.

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Lately, there have been clear signs of a shift in governments’ approaches to recreational cannabis. Uruguay in 2013 and Canada in 2018 – as well as a number of US states since 2012 – have moved to control cannabis through regulated markets from seed to sale rather than prohibition. More recently, the newly elected president of Mexico and the new coalition governments of Luxembourg and Malta also announced their intentions to regulate the recreational cannabis market. This is increasingly seen as a more promising way to protect people’s health and safety, and has changed the drug policy landscape and the terms of the debate.

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European countries that are widening their cannabis policies should invest in monitoring and evaluation to understand the impact on public health and safety, according to the European Drug Report for 2023 issued by the EU drugs agency (EMCDDA). Cannabis remained the most commonly used drug in Europe in 2021, with around eight per cent (22.6 million) of adults estimated to have used cannabis “in the last year”. Malta legislated for home growing and use in private, alongside non-profit communal growing clubs, for recreational purposes. Germany and Luxembourg are planning to permit home growing. The Netherlands is piloting a model for a closed cannabis supply chain for cannabis coffee shops and Czechia has announced plans for a regulated and taxed distribution system.

While in the Americas cannabis policy reform is taking off, Europe seems to be lagging behind. That is to say, in European nations at the level of national governments – where denial of the changing policy landscape and inertia to act upon calls for change reigns. At the local level, however, disenchantment with the current cannabis regime gives rise to new ideas. In several countries in Eu­rope, local and regional authorities are looking at regulation, either pressured by grassroots movements – in particular the Cannabis Social Clubs(CSCs) – or due to the involve­ment of criminal groups and public disorder.

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Local and regional authorities across Europe are confronted with the negative consequences of a persisting illicit cannabis market. Increasingly, local and regional authorities, non-governmental pressure groups and grassroots movements are advocating a regulation of the recreational cannabis market. The Transnational Institute (TNI) analysed possible cannabis market regulation models (in Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands) to allow local authorities to share best practices and improve the understanding of drug markets as a means to reduce the negative consequences of illicit drug markets on individuals and society.

Europeans spent at least 11.6 billion euros (£9.9 billion) in 2017 on illegal cannabis purchases, confirming marijuana as the largest drugs market in the 28-country European Union, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) said in its 2019 European Drug Markets report. Illegal sales of herbal cannabis and its resin represented 39% of the EU’s drugs market, up from 38% in 2013, with revenues for criminal organisations dwarfing those in legal markets. Cocaine is the second most consumed illegal drug in the EU, with sales generating revenues of at least 9 billion euros in 2017, while the heroin market was worth more than 7 billion euros. (See also: Growing like weeds? Rethinking Albania’s culture of cannabis cultivation)