From "completely legal" to "devil's food" - The battle over a cultivated plant

Rarely has a new government's plan so divided the country as the promise of the traffic light government: "We are introducing the controlled dispensing of cannabis nan adults for consumption purposes in licensed stores." It's almost absurd that a seemingly harmless natural plant, which bills itself as "mankind's oldest natural plant" and whose existence can be traced back to 10,000 BC, can cause such a furor. The debate about the "devil's stuff" becomes even more interesting against the background that there was a time in Germany when the country deliberately spoke out against a "drug law". What is the current status? What is forbidden and what is allowed? And how did it get this far in the first place?

First things first: what exactly is illegal about cannabis and how is it different from CBD products?

Certain products we sell contain "cannabidiol" or "CBD" for short, this naturally occurring compound is extracted from the "resinous flower" of hemp, i.e. the cannabis plant. So does this mean that CBD is also cannabis at the same time and that we are running a (more or less) clandestine online narcotics store? No! Cannabis is often associated with the "drug" of the same name, which is prohibited both in Germany and in many other parts of the world. However, the name "cannabis" primarily refers to the genus of the hemp plant. Commercial hemp, which is used in the clothing industry, for example, and the "marijuana" sold by dealers in the Görli, actually come from the same plant, but are fundamentally different.

And now THC comes into play, or delta-ß tetrahydrocannabinol. Cannabis, consists of several cannabinoids and the best known of them are CBD and THC, as already mentioned. You can think of THC and CBD as siblings, they come from the same family but have fundamentally different personalities and hobbies.

While its big sister THC is often found at parties and has an intoxicating effect, one will not experience a "high" feeling when taking CBD. That is, CBD does not have a psychoactive effect. Cannabis strains that have a THC content below 0.2% can therefore be legally grown in Germany. Which is good, because many people want the health benefits of cannabis without the high feeling, and that is exactly what is possible with CBD. In short, the hitherto illegal ingredient in cannabis is THC. But that was not always the case. The first evidence of the medicinal use of cannabis comes from Chinese medical books dating back to 2,700 B.C. In the Middle Ages, monks and nuns also discovered that the hemp plant could have a thoroughly pain-relieving and digestive effect. The break came with the advent of synthetic medicines. After German pharmacists Friedrich Sertüner and Albert Niemann discovered both morphine and cocaine, Germany advanced to a drug party. The legal intoxication, which was financially profitable for Germany, led to Germany becoming a world champion in drug exports. This was also the time of the opium wars and the resulting law to execute the "international opium treaty" and the resulting end of the drug rush in Germany. The treaty was only reluctantly signed by the German government and after Egypt pushed to include hemp in the drug catalog, the fun was over as of December 10, 1929.

But how does it look today?

As long as CBD is extracted from EU commercial hemp varieties, reprocessed and less than 0.2% THC can be detected in the product, it is legal in Germany. Since abuse for intoxication purposes must be excluded, it can be assumed that any product that has a THC value of more than 0.2% is not allowed in Germany so far (in addition, of course, then also includes the consumption of hemp plants, such as marijuana, which have mainly THC and only a low CBD value). But according to Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP), one can still hope in Germany that not only CBD but also THC and the legal consumption of cannabis is possible without further ado, so he says in the Bundestag: "My personal goal is that next year we are so far that we can perhaps sell the first legal joint." On Twitter, he adds, "It is realistically possible to implement the law by spring 2023."

Note

People under the age of 18 are not allowed to purchase CBD in Germany.

freigeist.works accepts no liability for any inconvenience or damage arising from the use of the information presented here.

If you have any health questions or complaints, you should always consult a doctor you trust. This text cannot replace professional advice from a doctor or pharmacist. Furthermore, the contents should not be used as a basis for independent diagnosis or for starting, changing or stopping treatment of diseases.

The contents listed on this website were created with the greatest possible care. They are intended solely for information and further education on the subject. The freigeist.works GmbH does not guarantee that the content is correct, up-to-date, or complete.