Weed Smuggler Among Few Freed Under Germany’s New Cannabis Law
Germany’s cannabis legalization law applies retroactively. This means that people who were arrested for possessing up to 25 grams of weed and are still in jail should be released. The law took effect on April 1st, but how many prisoners have been freed since then?
Only a few have been released, according to data requested and obtained by IPPEN.MEDIA. According to the data received for 13 out of 16 federal states, Bavaria has released the most people, with 33 prisoners freed, writes Frankfurter Rundschau according to the translation. The second state with the most freed individuals is Baden-Württemberg, which has released 19 people.
However, the highest number of releases is likely in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), a state in western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, NRW is the most populous state in the country. Moreover, it is said that the state’s regulators have reviewed the most files, but the ministry couldn’t provide the requested data.
Cannabis legalization opponents often argue that legalization leads to a large number of criminals being back on the streets. The number of released prisoners under the new cannabis law in Germany testifies against this claim. This …