BVCW: NEW DOCUMENT TO SUPPORT REGULATION PROCESS FOR THE STIMULANT MARKET

Berlin, 06/12/2022 – The German Cannabis Business Association (BvCW), in collaboration with experts and associations from other countries, has published a collection of cannabis legalization mistakes and lessons learned. The document clearly presents practical problems from the past and present as well as corresponding solution options.

“As the cannabis industry, we want this publication to help prevent avoidable mistakes and promote sensible regulation,” says Dirk Heitepriem, vice president and department coordinator for recreational cannabis regulation at BvCW. He continues, “We estimate that the necessary investments for domestic cultivation projects will each be in the two- to three-digit million range. To achieve this, we need planning and investment certainty from policymakers as quickly as possible. Everyone understands that we need reliable rules and can tolerate as little experimentation as possible. Therefore, legalization errors should also be avoided at an early stage.”

Thus, all interested parties can benefit even better from the experiences of Uruguay, Canada and many US states, where cannabis has already been legally available as a stimulant for years. The developments in the Netherlands and Portugal, where cannabis is only decriminalized, i.e. the sale is only tolerated, are also highlighted in the overview document.

“Die Schaffung eines komplett neuen Marktes für Cannabis als Genussmittel ist eine große Herausforderung für die Politik und auch für uns als Wirtschaft. Erfahrungen aus anderen Ländern können uns bei der derzeit anstehenden Konzeption des Marktes helfen, vermeidbare Fehler zu verhindern.  Besteuerung, Lizenzen, Verfügbarkeiten, Produktvielfalt sind einige der Schlagworte, auf die wir auch achten müssen. Der Markt für Cannabis muss praktikabel organisiert sein, ansonsten wird es schwierig, mit dem Schwarzmarkt in Konkurrenz zu treten und gleichzeitig Verbraucherschutz optimal zu gewährleisten”, so Jürgen Neumeyer, Geschäftsführer des BvCW. “Creating a completely new market for cannabis as a stimulant is a major challenge for policymakers and also for us as a business community. Experiences from other countries can help us avoid avoidable mistakes in the design of the market that is currently underway. Taxation, licensing, availability, product diversity are some of the buzzwords we also need to pay attention to. The market for cannabis must be organized in a practicable way, otherwise it will be difficult to compete with the black market and at the same time ensure consumer protection in the best possible way,” says Jürgen Neumeyer, managing director of the BvCW.

The overview on legalization errors can be found as ELEMENTS Volume 22 here.
The key points paper on recreational cannabis regulation with the proposals and positioning of the BvCW can be found here.