Last month Luxembourg’s Parliament passed legislation to make their country just the second in the European Union to legalize marijuana possession and cultivation. On July 21 the law takes effect.
“On July 17, 2023 the law amending the amended law of February 19, 1973 concerning the sale of medicinal substances and the fight against drug addiction, providing for the legalization of the domestic cultivation of cannabis under certain conditions, has been published in the Official Journal”, said the country’s Ministry of Health. “It will enter into force on the fourth day following the day of its publication, i.e. Friday, July 21, 2023.”
The Chamber of Deputies voted 38 to 22 last month to pass the bill that has been in the works for years. On July 21 Luxembourg will join Malta as the only European Union countries with legal recreational marijuana.
The new law sets the possession limit allowed outside of a private resident at just three grams. However, at a private residence adults will be able grow up to four plants and possess the flower that they produce.
Minister of Justice Sam Tanson called marijuana prohibition an absolute failure.
“The cultivation, from seeds, of four cannabis plants per domestic community is authorized for adults”, said Tanson. “The place of cultivation must be either the domicile or the habitual residence and the plants must not be visible from the public road.”
He continued: “At the same time, a simplified criminal procedure is introduced for certain behaviors which remain prohibited, namely the consumption, possession, transport and acquisition in public, for their sole personal use, of a maximum of three grams of cannabis by adult persons.”
