Luxembourg Presents Recreational Cannabis Pilot Project

Luxembourg's Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, Children and Youth and the Ministry of Justice recently presented a new pilot project as part of plans to legalise recreational cannabis.

The coalition government of 2018-2023 had previously pledged to legalise recreational cannabis, namely developing legislation related to the decriminalisation, production, purchase, possession and consumption of cannabis for adult residents.

The respective ministries recalled that residents of the Grand Duchy will be able eventually (upon entry into force of bill 8033) to cultivate up to four cannabis plants at home or in their usual residence per household community. As part of the future implementation of the experimental system for legal access to cannabis for non-medical purposes, they will also be able to buy cannabis in state sales points.

The government has now approved the concept of an "experimental device" for legal access to cannabis for non-medical purposes, as proposed by a dedicated interministerial working group and as part of a public health approach.

The concept is designed to find adequate solutions in order to better control the quality of the cannabis consumed, gradually reduce the illicit market and strengthen the protection of the most vulnerable people, in particular youth.

Luxembourg's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health, Paulette Lenert, welcomed the approval of the concept: "The experimental device allows us- much better than the prohibitionist approach of the last decades- to reduce in a determined way the risks and potential dangers of cannabis use and draw consumers away from the illicit market. This experimental device will make it possible to better understand the potential impacts of such an approach and to adjust it in complete flexibility if deemed necessary."

Bill 8033, tabled on 22 June 2022 by Luxembourg's Minister of Justice, Sam Tanson, is part of the concept of the experimental system for legal access to cannabis for non-medical purposes. Minister Tanson clarified: "The home cultivation bill is a first step, in line with the prevention policy against drug-related crime. The aim is on the one hand that consumers know what they are consuming and that the health of consumers is protected by the possibility of growing good quality cannabis themselves. On the other hand, the new concept also aims to tackle the illicit cannabis market and keep consumers away from criminal circles, given that purely criminal measures have so far not yielded the expected results. A regulated production and sales chain must make it possible to fight against the black market and therefore against organised drug-related crime. Thus, the introduction into the legal economy of profits generated by the illegal sale of cannabis can be effectively combatted."

Luxembourg's Minister of Education, Children and Youth, Claude Meisch, added: "With the legalisation of cannabis, citizens become more responsible for their own health. It is therefore essential, alongside legalisation, to increase public awareness and information about the risks and effects of its consumption, [...] also in schools."

According to the respective ministries, the concept in question has been reviewed and analysed by national and international experts and is the result of scientific research carried out in particular in Canada, Portugal and the Netherlands.

A bill will be drawn up based on this concept, although this is reportedly unlikely to be put to a vote in the Chamber of Deputies (Luxembourg's parliament) before the next legislative elections (in October 2023).