Luxembourg to legalize cannabis production and consumption
Luxembourg is set to become the first European nation to legalize the cultivation and consumption of cannabis, the government announced in a communicated Friday. The Grand Duchy is relaxing its position on the cultivation of weed, but possession in public will remain punishable.
Luxembourg will allow adults to consume cannabis and grow up to four plants per household, making it the first country in Europe to fully legalize the production and consumption of this drug.
The justice and home affairs ministers announced on Friday, among several changes in police powers, their plans to legalize cannabis, including domestic cultivation, but possession of this drug in public will remain a punishable offense.
According to the ministers' plans, if a person is caught with a little weed (less than three grams) in their pockets, the drugs will be seized and the offender will be fined 25 to 500 euros, against up to 2500. euros beforehand, and no criminal record will be recorded. A parliamentary vote is still needed to confirm the proposals and the reduction in sanctions, but the plans have the backing of the governing coalition.
For home farmers, the seed trade would also be allowed without any limits on the amount or levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The government is considering that it will become possible to buy seeds in stores, import them or buy them online.
The new legislation has received support from the governing coalition, but a parliamentary vote is still needed to confirm the new proposals. It places Luxembourg, a small landlocked country of just over 600000 inhabitants, at the forefront of a growing movement on the continent aimed at relaxing cannabis laws.
In 2018, the Luxembourg government made up of liberals, social democrats and (green) ecologists had already convinced in its coalition document in which it wanted the exemption from punishment, or even the legalization of cannabis produced in the territory of the State whose conditions remained to be determined, but projects of this type had failed several times in the past.
