Drugs - Bureaucracy costs millions for Cannabis legalization
In connection with the Cannabis partial legalization, the Hanseatic City of Hamburg calculates with additional costs of significantly over two million Euros per year. For the implementation of the Consumption Cannabis Law (KCanG), an additional personnel cost of over 1.7 million Euros is planned in the budget draft, as stated in the Senate's response to a written question from the CDU parliamentary fraction.
More than 23 new positions are planned according to the Senate: 10.5 positions at the Altona District Office, which is responsible for the cultivation associations that are allowed to grow and distribute cannabis to their members. With four additional positions, the authority for Justice and Consumer Protection will be equipped, which conducts supervision and is responsible for the evaluation of the law. Nine new positions will be created at the Interior Department, among them five at the Police for controls and prosecution of potential violations.
According to the Senate's response, there are additional annual costs of approximately 400,000 Euros for all involved authorities and offices.
Savings through relief in prosecution and justice not feasible
CDU fraction leader Dennis Thering told the German Press Agency regarding the numbers: "The Berlin Coalition's cannabis legalization, despite all warnings from doctors, police, and judges, as well as interior ministers of the states, is part of a series of major wrong decisions. It not only endangers the health of the youth but also costs taxpayers a lot of money."
The savings promised by Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) are completely unrealistic. "Instead, Hamburgers and Hamburgers have to pay around 2.5 million Euros in tax money annually for the control of their senseless Consumption Cannabis Law."
The Federal Ministry of Health had assumed savings of over one billion Euros per year nationwide in the legislative process - 800 million at the criminal prosecution authorities, 220 million at courts, and 35 million at correctional facilities.
The effect cannot be seen in Hamburg yet, as stated in the Senate's response to Thering's question: "Whether and to what extent savings in the sense of the question can be made at the criminal prosecution authorities and the courts, cannot be determined at present even by estimation."
Thering calls the Cannabis law a "cost-intensive bureaucratic monster"
- Despite the CDU's opposition, the Hanseatic City of Hamburg, under the Consumption Cannabis Law (KCanG), is anticipating the need for an additional 1.7 million Euros in police personnel costs.
- In response to the partial legalization of Cannabis, a citizens' assembly in Altona might discuss potential impacts on local citizens and bureaucratic processes.
- The Justice authority, responsible for supervising and evaluating cannabis regulations, is planning to hire four additional employees to handle the increase in duties.
- Dennis Thering, leader of the CDU parliamentary fraction, critiques the "cost-intensive bureaucratic monster" that he believes the Cannabis law has become, citing unnecessary financial burdens on Hamburg taxpayers.
- The Senate response indicates that it is still unclear whether any significant savings can be achieved, as estimations for potential relief in prosecution and justice costs are not yet visible in Hamburg's context.
