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The following is a rough translation from a news Article. http://www.lessentiel.lu/de/luxemburg/s ... l-12025251

Today, the Parliament has discussed in a public debate the handling of Cannabis following a recent Petition for legalization that had received an overwhelming number of signatures.
More concrete, it’s about the legalization of the Drug and its distribution, for example via Coffeeshops.

Petitionary Joe Schmit has different goals. Even though he himself isn’t a consumer, he has noticed that “Cannabis is available everywhere and all the time”. For that reason, a Federal Regulation seems to make sense, in order to protect the youth, the consumers and the constitutional state itself.

On one side Guy Munhowen (Manager of the local headshop placebo, distributer of CBD and member of the socialist party) argued passionately for exactly that. “it’s not about complete clearance of Cannabis, but about a reasonable regulation”, says Munhowen. But this raises a number of problems, starting with the acceptance by the population.
Minister of justice Félix Braz (the greens) says “the Drug politics of the recent decades has failed”. We need new and unified regulations because “what’s penalized now, has to find acceptance from the people”.

Role model, Canada.

Minister of health Lydia Mutsch (socialists) acknowledges that the current law needs to be changed. There are a few contradictions in society concerning the handling of drugs, namely with alcohol that’s being consumed for different occasions. Especially for children and teenagers it’s impossible to comprehend why Cannabis should be treated differently than the socially accepted drug alcohol.
Still we need to keep an eye on the health risks associated with consuming Cannabis if we want to discuss about a legalization.

The Canadian model kame up pretty frequently, the north American country has decided on legalization in 2016 and is being praised from everywhere around. “to say it informally, the Canadians have busted their asses in order to find a reasonable and coherent system” says Munhowen. But following Mutsch, the Canadian model could only be applied conditionally to Luxembourg, as it is very recent and long term consequences on society can’t be deduced yet.


Education, control, prevention

The conclusion of today’s session could be “we are open-minded, but we don’t want to act precipitately “ as Alex Bodry (socialists) said. “The Left” and “the Greens” agree. The Christian party shows itself “open to further exchange” over the subject, as said by Marine Mergen. But first we need to talk about the feared drug tourism, prevention and the transfer to minors.

“Problems can only be solved if they are talked about openly” says Munhowen. “it would be refreshing, if an adolescent could openly share in school that he has a problem with drugs. Because those adolescents exist already, today”

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personal addition:

Finally they decided to study the subject further and to reconvene in September. The Democratic party, socialists, greens, pirates and “the left” have all put in the effort for legalization in their manifesto for the upcoming election. The Christian party as well as the more right winged party and the Communists haven’t.

UPDATE:

Following a report from Luxembourg’s “Tageblatt” all 3 of the ruling parties LSAP (Luxembourgish socialist worker party), DP (democratic party) and the Greens are all three pleading for a change in the current Cannabis legislation and have put it their party platform. After the legalization of medical Hemp was supposed to be an emergency action, in order to keep shares in the German Stock Exchange a chain reaction is now on their way that could end in the legalization of Cannabis, even for leisure use.

Medical Hemp legalization for Stock trading

It’s been almost three months that the Report concerning trade with Cannabis shares in Germany made a lot of noise. We (Marijuana.com) also reported about this, that the firm “Clearstream” refused the trade with Hemp shares, which would have meant a ban of Cannabis shares on the German Stock Exchange. But just in time, Luxembourg legalized Medical Marijuana so that it could continue to be traded on the markets.

Momentum for more

But this didn’t close the case “Cannabis” in Luxembourg. Shortly before the upcoming elections, most parties discussed a possible legalization and regulation of the Cannabis market in their particular program. However, the coalition won’t be able to implement their new position so shortly before the election. Being the biggest party in the country, the opposing Christian social public party (CSV) refuses the idea of a regulated Cannabis market.

With these developments, the criteria for legalization in Luxembourg are met. Should the CSV not be part of the ruling body, which we shall see after the election in October, we will see how serious the three parties are about the subject.

Freely translated from: https://www.marijuana.com/de/news/2018/ ... lisierung/

Dare I say, we did it!

Coalition discussion aren't done yet, BUT the current coalition with Greens, LSAP (Socialists) and DP (Democrats) still has a majority of 31 seats! also the greens have won over the most voters. and it wouldn't be fair if they where left out, as the only party that won voters, out of the top 4 parties.
also after the election the 3 party leaders of the current government, seemed rather optimistic to continue their cooperation, to the dissatisfaction of the Christian party (CSV) who still are the strongest party, but, just like 5 years ago lost a lot of votes.

now what does that mean? as mentioned in the articles above all three parties, that form of the current government, are pro legalization of cannabis, with the greens being the ones that pushed it the hardest, and even promoted it with their "Weedman" as seen here:


also as the greens won the most seats, they can also now force more of their program in coalition negotiations.

so in my honest opinion, unless something really bad and surprising happens, and the current government does not decide to stay together in their current coalition, we should have legalization of recreational marijuana in 2 to 4 years.

here are the election results in detail FYI.

That is great news for the people of Luxembourg and another step forward to legalization worldwide
We loved our visit to Luxembourg both the country and the city, we stoped at Clervaux to see the WW2 museum but spent all our time at the “Family of Man” photograph exhibit at the Chateau Clervaux, then had to catch the train

As the new government is still forming, leaks confirm and Radio station 100.7 reports, that all three parties agreed on legalizing Cannabis, no date as of yet of when we will be abl to smoke an buy weed legally tho. The legislation should be signed the upcoming days and the whole thing will be presented with the rest of the coalition accord around the 6th of December.
it has been said that, even tho all parties want to legalize Marijuana, it will, at least at first, not be a priority.

which for me, confirms my initial estimate of 2-4 years until it's legal. I'll update as the news come out.

@Admin could you maybe create a subforum in "more countries" for Luxembourg and copy this post in? thanks.

just in,

Prime Minister Bettel just confirmed in a press conference that Cannabis, medical and recreational will be legalized.
growing, and distribution will be organized and managed by the state.

the exact law and legislation will be worked out now by the responsible minister.

no date yet, except "when it's done!"

Geachte Nederlandse overheid,

Graag "get your shit together"

Jullie huidige "gedoogbeleid" lukt niet, particuliere kwekers zijn geen criminelen, jullie zijn op dit moment wel een grapje hoor!

Alvast bedankt.

Met vriendelijke groet,

Een dagelijk wiet-blower

yup, I hope we will be a bright green light int he center of Europe, showing to the rest that it works!

but first let's wee when we get the first law-text about this, I don't think we will get much news about this in the first year, and maybe a first Testphase of decriminalization in 2 years.
then probably full legalization around 2021/22

btw fitting perfectly the farmers guild has voiced that they have huge trouble gaining on the current vegetable market.
the Greens have proposed that, by creating the Cannabis market for Luxemburgish farmers would give them a very unique and great push, in a market that will probably grow large in the coming decades.

the new health minister has declared, that they want to do it right, for that reason there will probably be a first phase of tolerance and depenalisation, while they work out the details.
it has been confirmed that they are already in contact with Canadian authorities to exchange ideas and experiences.

cannabisnewsnetwork.com has done an article about this whole thing, including an interview with Joe from "The Green Place" a local CDB distributer that is very successfull and has some great quaility CBD flowers.

here is the article, and the original link below:

Luxembourg’s Cannabis Legalization: How? When?
January 31, 2019
BlogLuxembourg
By Mauro

During a press conference in November 2018, the new coalition government of Luxembourg surprised everyone by announcing their plans to legalize cannabis for recreational use.

It wasn’t a complete surprise to those paying attention to the small country bordering Belgium, Germany, and France. After all, the previous government (which mostly carried on into the next coalition) legalized medicinal cannabis earlier in June 2018.
Cannabis legalization petition

It was around that time, actually before the medical cannabis announcement, a petition was created in May 2018 that would legalize cannabis following the Dutch model. Translated, it reads:

Title of the petition: Legalization of cannabis by means of coffeeshops

Purpose of the petition:
Cannabis should be legalized through coffeeshops if the following conditions are met
– not more than 5 grams per person
– the stash of cannabis may be 500 grams
– no sale to minors
– within 500 meters of schools, coffeeshops are not allowed to open
– sale of other drugs remains illegal

This would relieve the police forces and create jobs. Furthermore, the country would have another source of income.

Motivation of the general interest of the petition:

It is about a policy of tolerating the sale and consumption of cannabis to curb drug-related crime in Luxembourg.

The petition reached its vote threshold within 24 hours, before the medical cannabis announcement took place, after which it was debated in parliament.
Medicinal cannabis, Canada and free public transport

And they’re serious about it. Recently it was announced 150 doctors would get mandatory training about medical cannabis. And they’re in talks with Canada on how cannabis will be sold and laws around local production. Rumors are Luxembourg is legalizing cannabis to assist the expansion of Canadian companies in Europe. After all, Canadian companies can import and export recreational cannabis too after Canada’s legalization of cannabis went through.

‘Luxembourg is the second largest investment fund centre in the world after the United States, the premier captive reinsurance market in the European Union and the premier private banking centre in the Eurozone. The financial sector is the largest contributor to the Luxembourg economy.’

It makes sense too the announcement was made around the same time the coalition government announced their plans for free public transport. This way, they tackle the potential ‘stoned driving’ arguments they might face from those who are opposed to the measure.
Interview with Joe from GreenPlace Luxembourg

We interviewed a local working in the CBD business selling ‘cannabis light’ to clarify a couple of things. Joe works for GreenPlace Luxembourg, a CBD business which started a little over one year ago and who now have 4 shops in Luxembourg.

CNN: Hi Joe, thanks for doing this. Since Luxembourg’s new coalition announced their plans to legalize cannabis, there must have been an increasing interest in what you are doing. How are you experiencing this?

JOE: We get a lot more questions about when it will be legalized… And some investors are also showing interest.

CNN: How is it possible that without any apparent activism these plans were announced?

JOE: Last year in may a petition was deposed for the legalization and sale of cannabis through the so-called “coffeeshops” like in the Netherlands. The petition was a great success and got the required 4500 signatures in just a few hours after being accepted. I would say this was an eyeopener for our government. In the following debate, the government acknowledged that there is a need for a change in the drug laws.

CNN: Luxembourg also recently legalized medical cannabis on prescription. Is this system working?

JOE: You can now get flowers and tinctures on prescription. But they are only sold through the pharmacies of the hospitals, so not in normal pharmacies like in the Netherlands or Germany for example. There isn’t a lot of information about the whole medical program.
Doctors can prescribe it if they think that you can actually benefit from it. They only have to accomplish some kind of training to be able to prescribe medical cannabis. It’s too early to say if its working or not, our first charge of medical flowers from Aurora arrived 3 weeks ago. So time will tell…

CNN: Your shops are selling CBD cannabis, low in THC. What is allowed and what is not under the CBD regulations?

JOE: Exactly, we are allowed to sell hemp and hemp derived products as long as the THC content does not exceed 0,3%. We also sell oils, infusions, extracts, lotions and more. Currently, there are no regulations regarding CBD, but our government is already working on regulation regarding the sale of CBD products.

CNN: Perhaps most importantly, when do you expect the government to go forward with their plans for complete legalization of cannabis?

JOE: Until now, the government hasn’t released any details about when or how it will be legalized. But it looks like it will be decriminalized first and on a later point fully legalized.

CNN: How big of an influence do you think Canadian companies have on this government?

JOE: Our government is working with the Canadian “experts” on a legalization model that fits Luxembourg… And about the Canadian companies, I’m sure that they are looking into Luxembourg. But when they announced the legalization and up until now, they were always talking about locally grown and no imports… But at the moment there are a lot of rumors around and nobody knows what’s possible. The only information that’s sure is that it will be decriminalized first and then legalized.

CNN: Is there anything you would like to add?

JOE: We are very pleased that our government has announced this step. Because nobody should be criminalized for a plant that occurs naturally on our planet and has so many benefits. You can follow us on Facebook & Instagram, for the latest updates about CBD and cannabis in Luxembourg.

CNN: Thanks for your time!

https://www.cannabisnewsnetwork.com/lux ... -how-when/

This would be so awesome if this happens in Luxembourg.... I've always wanted to visit it UP IN SMOKE!

well current plans say that only residents will be allowed to buy with special weed cards, and no smoking in public for now, I hope well get at least some dedicated rooms ar bars to smoke in.

but we'll wait until the first real proposition is on the government table, for now they need time to work everything out.