Lawmakers in Germany approved legalization of limited amounts of cannabis for recreational use on Friday, bringing the country a step closer to becoming one of the few European nations — and by far the largest — to do so.
“By legalizing it, we are taking cannabis out of the taboo zone,” Karl Lauterbach, who as health minister is largely responsible for the law, said on public television before the vote.
In the end, 407 lawmakers voted for the proposal, and 226 voted against the plan, which must be now approved by the Federal Council. That vote is expected next month.
Several other European countries, perhaps most notably the Netherlands, tolerate the use of cannabis, but legalization is rare: Within the European Union, only Malta and Luxembourg have gone that far. Medical marijuana has been legal in Germany since 2017.
If the law passes the Federal Council and is signed by the president, it will be rolled out in two steps. First, adults will be allowed to carry up to 25 grams, own up to 50 grams, and grow up to three plants for private consumption. Later, adults in Germany would be permitted to form social clubs of up to 500 members that could grow and distribute marijuana.
The law that passed on Friday was first announced in 2021, when Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party government first formed. Before that, cannabis legalization had been blocked by the conservative party of former Chancellor Angela Merkel for years.
There are no immediate plans to allow for the commercial sale of the drug — which remains illegal under European Union rules — but the dozens of cannabis startups that have popped up in Germany believe the new law in Europe’s biggest economy could ultimately lead to the opening of a large and lucrative legal drug market.
“The era of dysfunctional and unjust prohibition is coming to an end in our country, and Germany has the potential to serve as a role model for other countries looking to explore legalization measures,” Niklas Kouparanis, the chief executive of Bloomwell Group, said in a statement.
Germans are split on the proposal. According to a poll released on Friday, 42 percent support legalization, while 47 percent were against it.
Critics have objected to the new law on the grounds that it could normalize the drug and make it easier for minors to obtain it. But Mr. Lauterbach has framed the new law as an attempt to keep adolescents safe from illegal use of the drug.
“This can only work if we can also make an offer to counter the black market,” he told lawmakers before they voted on Friday.
The law includes stipulations meant to protect minors, including bans on consumption of the drug close to schools or other places where young people gather and stricter penalties for drug dealers caught selling to minors.
States have warned that legalization would cause an extra burden for the police, who expect to see an increase in the number of people driving under the influence of the drug on German roads and other drug-related crime.
“The same argument was used against compulsory seatbelts,” Mr. Lauterbach said during a public TV interview on Friday.
“Whenever an important, major law is passed, we always have a duty to monitor, especially at the beginning,” he added.
Opposition at the state level matters because the proposal needs to pass the Federal Council, which consists of state leaders. The council could send the legislation back to an arbitration committee, which could delay the rollout of the law. But with a supporting majority in place in Parliament, the Federal Council cannot block the law indefinitely.
The law includes an amnesty provision for people convicted of minor drug possession charges before the law went into effect. A group of judges had warned earlier that having to review those cases could weigh down the justice system.
“The judiciary expects more than 100,000 files nationwide to be reviewed again in the event of the planned retroactive remission of sentences for cannabis offenses,” Sven Rebehn, the director of the German Federal Association of Judges, said in an interview with local papers. Mr. Rebehn estimated it would take a committee of judges a full year to go through old cases to see if they needed to be overturned.
But others were celebrating the decision, noting that it was important for Germany to adopt a modern approach to the drug.
“This is a significant milestone on the way to meaningful drug politics,” said Andreas Müller, a youth judge who has spent years fighting against what he sees as unjust drug policies that needlessly clog up German courts.
In a telephone interview from outside Parliament, where he celebrated the decision, Judge Müller said, “For all those people who over the last 50 years of failed drug policy were victims of the prohibition, this day is a vindication.”