The Political Battle Over German Cannabis

Last verified: April 2026

The Traffic Light Coalition: How It Happened

Cannabis legalization was a signature policy of the traffic light coalition (Ampelkoalition) — the governing alliance of SPD (red), Greens (green), and FDP (yellow) formed after the September 2021 federal election under Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The three parties agreed to legalize cannabis as part of their coalition agreement, framing it as a public health measure to undercut the black market, protect youth through regulation, and end the criminalization of millions of German consumers. The key figures who drove the law through were:

• Karl Lauterbach (SPD) — Health Minister, who personally championed the bill despite being a physician who had previously expressed skepticism about cannabis. Lauterbach became the public face of legalization, repeatedly defending it in Bundestag debates and press conferences.
• Burkhard Blienert (SPD) — Federal Drug Commissioner (Drogenbeauftragter), who coordinated the policy development and published the initial “Eckpunktepapier” (key points paper) in October 2022.
• The Greens — long-standing advocates of legalization who provided consistent coalition support.
• The FDP — backed legalization from a civil liberties and deregulation perspective.

The CDU/CSU opposition was unanimous and fierce. Every CDU/CSU member of the Bundestag voted against the Cannabis Act. The most vocal opponent was Bavarian Minister-President Markus Söder (CSU), who declared that Germany should “stick with beer” and pledged to make legalization as difficult as possible within Bavaria.

Coalition Collapse & the Snap Election

The traffic light coalition collapsed in late 2024, less than nine months after its signature cannabis law took effect. The breakdown was driven by fiscal policy disagreements, not cannabis, but the collapse created immediate uncertainty about the law’s future.

Snap elections were called for February 23, 2025 — exactly one year to the day after the Bundestag had passed the Cannabis Act. The CDU/CSU, led by Friedrich Merz, campaigned with cannabis rollback as one of many policy reversals they promised.

The results:

• CDU/CSU won with Friedrich Merz as the new Chancellor
• The grand coalition (CDU/CSU + SPD) formed Germany’s new government
• The SPD — the party whose Health Minister had authored the Cannabis Act — was now the junior coalition partner of the party that had unanimously voted against it

Cannabis legalization appeared to be on a collision course with the new government.

Why Rollback Failed: The SPD Blocked It

Despite CDU/CSU’s stated intention to reverse legalization, the Cannabis Act has not been rolled back. The reason is straightforward coalition politics:

The SPD made preservation of the Cannabis Act a red line in coalition negotiations. As the party that had authored and passed the law, rolling it back would have been a humiliation the SPD leadership was unwilling to accept. The CDU/CSU needed the SPD to form a government, and cannabis was not important enough to the CDU/CSU to sacrifice the coalition over.

The result was a quiet agreement: the Cannabis Act stays, but the CDU/CSU will not invest political capital in expanding it. Pillar 2 (commercial retail pilots) is effectively dead. No new pro-cannabis legislation will be introduced. But the existing law — personal possession, home growing, social clubs — remains in force.

Friedrich Merz himself signaled the shift when he stated publicly that cannabis is “no longer a priority topic” for his government. This was not an endorsement of legalization — it was an acknowledgment that the political cost of repeal exceeded the political benefit.

The EKOCAN Data: Evidence That Changed the Debate

The strongest argument against rollback came not from politics but from data. The EKOCAN evaluation (Evaluierung der Auswirkungen des Konsumcannabisgesetzes) — the government-commissioned study of the Cannabis Act’s effects — produced findings that made repeal politically untenable:

The 60–80% drop in police offenses was the most politically significant finding. German police unions had warned that legalization would increase their workload; instead, it dramatically reduced it. Cannabis cases had consumed enormous police and prosecutorial resources for decades, and the CanG freed those resources for other priorities.

The continued decline in youth use neutralized the CDU/CSU’s primary emotional argument — “think of the children.” If youth use was declining after legalization, the case for re-criminalization on child protection grounds evaporated.

The growth in legal sourcing from 5.4% to 21.4% showed the social club model was working, albeit slowly. As more clubs open and waiting lists clear, this number is expected to continue rising.

Cannabis is no longer a priority topic for this government. We have other issues to address.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz, 2025

The Wietpas Effect: Germany and the Netherlands

One underappreciated consequence of German legalization is its impact on cross-border cannabis tourism to the Netherlands.

For decades, German tourists — particularly from North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony — were the primary customers of Dutch border coffeeshops. Cities like Maastricht (150 kilometers from Cologne) implemented residency restrictions specifically to reduce the flood of German visitors. The Wietpas system was largely a response to German demand.

German legalization has significantly reduced cross-border cannabis tourism. With 25 grams of legal possession at home, social clubs opening across the western states, and no criminal risk for personal use, the incentive to drive to Maastricht or Venlo has diminished substantially. Dutch border municipalities have reported declining cannabis tourist traffic since April 2024.

This creates an ironic dynamic: Germany legalized partly because the Dutch tolerance model demonstrated that cannabis could be managed without catastrophe, and now German legalization is reducing the demand that had strained that very model.

Related on this site: The Cannabis Act (CanG), Where You Can Consume Cannabis in Ger..., Cannabis Driving Laws in Germany.