The Luxembourg parliament on Wednesday allowed households to grow cannabis plants at home as well as lowering fines for being caught in public with the drug.
The new rules adopted on 28 June allow people over the age of 18 to grow up to four cannabis plants per household – a domestic community – from seeds, which can be purchased online, for example. Smoking, however, remains banned in public.
The law reduces fines for carrying less than 3g of cannabis for personal use, from €251 to €2,500 previously to €25 to €500. If paid immediately, a fine with no criminal record – similar to a speeding ticket – of €145 can be applied.
Exceeding the 3g for personal use carries a fine of €251 to €2,500 – with no option for the reduced €145 ticket – and a possible prison sentence of between eight days and six months.
Smoking in front of minors remains illegal.
Advocates for the change said allowing the growing of cannabis would help rein in the illegal market and also limit the circulation and consumption of high-potency strains of poor-quality weed containing pesticides, chemicals or other substances.
The government had previously said it would continue awareness campaigns to warn young people especially of the dangers of smoking weed. Cannabis is the most-used recreational drug in Luxembourg.
Opposition from the CSV
The CSV opposed the plans, saying the law trivialises the consumption of cannabis and could encourage its use. Gilles Roth (CSV) speaking for the party also said rules that the plants should not be visible from the street would be difficult to implement.
He warned that children might have access to plants and could get sick from eating them, and that the definition of a domestic community sharing a budget is too vague and leaves too much room for interpretation on who will be held liable in case of violations.
Roth said there should be an EU-wide solution to the legalisation of cannabis, warning of drugs tourism from the greater region to the country. “This law is something that our people definitely don’t need,” he said, adding health risks for users. “Cannabis isn’t harmless.”
The ADR abstained, arguing that in general it supports less government intervention in private households but that it does not support some of the provisions of the law. The Pirates meanwhile called it a “soft, false legalisation”, for example saying the law says nothing about the size of the plants and many points will be difficult to enforce, such as weighing the amount that people are caught with.
A majority of 38 members of parliament – including votes from the DP, LSAP, déi Gréng, ADR, déi Lénk and the Pirate Party – passed the law, with 22 votes against the law, (the entire CSV group in parliament plus one MP from the ADR).
Once the document is signed by the grand duke and published it comes into force.
Full legalisation pending
The DP-LSAP-déi Gréng coalition in 2018 had pledged to legalise recreational cannabis but the plan ran into numerous hurdles. Not only did the pandemic slow down legislation, but Luxembourg has signed three UN treaties which say cannabis may only be used for medical or research purposes and together form a global drug control framework.
In an intermediate step, the government proposed the legalisation of growing plants at home. Further plans – that would include opening 14 dispensaries in the country, where consumers over the age of 18 can purchase a maximum of 30g per month for personal use – are still being developed.
Health minister Paulette Lenert (LSAP) together with justice minister Sam Tanson (déi Gréng) during a press conference in April had said a draft law would not be presented before the next elections in October.
