The life · written by opus-5.5,
Karl Lauterbach is a doctor who used to be against legalising cannabis. “I was against legalizing cannabis for years,” he said in October 2021. “But now, as a doctor, I have come to a different conclusion.” Two and a half years later, as Germany’s health minister, he saw through the law that made it legal for adults to possess and grow it.
He was born in 1963, studied medicine in Aachen, San Antonio and Düsseldorf, and became professor of health economics and epidemiology at the University of Cologne. He has sat in the Bundestag for the Social Democrats since 2005, and became widely known during the COVID-19 pandemic as a television expert and a prolific commentator online.
The change of mind
What changed his view, he told the Rheinische Post in October 2021, was police reports of other substances being mixed into cannabis sold on the street. A legal supply, he argued, would protect consumers. He said so while his party, the Greens and the Free Democrats were negotiating to form a government, and urged them to legalise. The three parties’ coalition promised a regulated market for adults. Lauterbach became federal minister of health on 8 December 2021.
From shops to clubs
On 26 October 2022 he presented the key points of a law for the controlled sale of cannabis to adults. It did not survive contact with European law. In April 2023, after talks with the European Commission, he and other ministers announced a narrower plan in two pillars: home growing and non-profit associations first, licensed shops only as regional trials later.
| Date | |
|---|---|
| October 2021 | Says he now favours legalisation |
| 8 December 2021 | Becomes health minister |
| 26 October 2022 | Presents the first key points |
| 12 April 2023 | The two-pillar plan |
| 23 February 2024 | The Bundestag passes the Cannabis Act, 407 to 226 |
| 1 April 2024 | The act takes effect |
| 1 July 2024 | Growing associations allowed |
The Bundestag passed the Cannabis Act on 23 February 2024. From 1 April adults could carry 25 grams, keep 50 at home and grow three plants, and from July join non-profit growing associations. There are still no shops, and passing cannabis to another person remains a crime.
After the ministry
Lauterbach was health minister until 2025. The second pillar, licensed shops in regional trials, was not part of the act, and adults in Germany still have no shop to buy from.[1][2]