Regulation comes embarrassingly late
It was only just five months after cannabis was legalized that the government set a limit for drivers. That’s very late – but there are even bigger catches.
Cannabis has been legal for adults in Germany since April 1st under certain conditions. It was only around five months later that lawmakers finally clarified the question: How much of the drug’s active ingredient THC are drivers allowed to have in their blood? Photo: Monika Skolimowska picture alliance/dpa
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There is now a clear limit for drivers who like to smoke hashish. Anyone who gets behind the wheel must not exceed the upper limit of 3.5 nanograms of the active ingredient THC per milliliter of blood – otherwise they face hefty fines. At least 500 euros plus a one-month driving ban are due. 1,000 euros if you smoke weed and drink alcohol on top of that. At first glance, that sounds like a hefty and deterrent fine. And it sounds as if politics has provided guidance and justice. But in fact it is a fatal, trivializing signal.
The message that sticks is that smoking weed and driving is allowed. ADAC employees can talk themselves blue in the face with their moral appeals.
Of course, a limit was fundamentally necessary after smoking weed was legalized in Germany. With frequent use, the drug substance remains weakly detectable in the blood even when the effects have long since worn off. But for road safety, it would have been better to set the limit in this low detection zone. The more generous 3.5 nanogram limit is quite controversial among experts. Some see it as harmless and compare it to an alcohol level of 0.2 per mille – others fear that moderately stoned drivers are impaired.
Even drunk drivers often underestimate their consumption
The difficult question is also: How can hashish fans realistically estimate their THC exposure? It is not possible to “get close” to the limit when consuming hashish.
Late-adolescent sentimentality often characterizes the debate about hashish and beer
Unfortunately, the discussion was mainly conducted under the motto: what is allowed for alcohol lovers must also be allowed for stoners. It would have been really brave if the legislators had thought the other way round – and significantly lowered the blood alcohol limit for drinkers from 0.5. Anyone who gets behind the wheel has responsibility for other people’s lives – and should not be under the influence of drugs at all, whether in liquid or other form. Alcohol lovers often downplay their consumption when they get behind the wheel.
Unfortunately, late-adolescent sentimentality often plays a role in the debate about cannabis and alcohol – among supporters of both left-wing and right-wing parties, among stoners and beer tent fans.
Economic stimulus package for the drug mafia
What is also embarrassing about the new upper limit is that it comes so late: almost five months after cannabis was legalized. However, this is a trifle compared to another failure of the hashish advocates in Berlin: they legalized drug consumption, but they did not yet provide a legal range of goods. In doing so, the traffic light government gave a special boom to precisely those whose business it actually wanted to dry up: the unscrupulous, unbelievably brutal drug mafiosi.
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