“The Right to a Legal High": Preliminary Findings from the Evaluation of the German Cannabis Act

• In Event: Trends in Organized Crime

Abstract

On April 1, 2024 the Federal Government of Germany implemented the new Cannabis Act (KCanG) which legalizes not only the consumption but also – within regulated limits – the possession and the self-cultivation of cannabis for non-medical use for adults both at home as well as the cooperative, non-commercial self-cultivation in so-called cultivation associations. Within the Cannabis Act it is stipulated that a mandatory evaluation of the impact of this legislative project is to be conducted. As part of the interdisciplinary collaborative research project “EKOCAN”, the Institute of Criminology at the University of Tuebingen (Germany) is in charge of evaluating the impact of the Cannabis Act on both crime in general and organized crime in particular. Using a mixed-methods design that combines the analysis of official public data, quantitative surveys and a wide-spread qualitative interview study with experts from the police, the prosecution and judges, EKOCAN provides valuable empirical insights on the impact of this recent legalization project. The presentation will highlight some preliminary empirical findings from the ongoing evaluation.

Author

• Sarah Schreier, University of Tuebingen (Germany)