European Commission Partially Registers a European Citizens’ Initiative on Cannabis

The European Commission has authorized a European Citizens’ Initiative to enhance access to medical cannabis and promote research into its therapeutic uses, requiring one million signatures from at least seven member states to consider the proposal. The initiative reflects broader efforts in the EU to rethink drug policy, highlighted by recent moves in Germany, Luxembourg, and Malta.

The European Commission has announced the authorization of a European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) aimed at facilitating access to medical cannabis and promoting research into its therapeutic potential.

European associations behind the initiative now have six months to launch a petition campaign, followed by a year to collect one million signatures across at least seven Member States, to compel a review of the proposal.

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The European Commission has announced the authorization of a European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) aimed at facilitating access to medical cannabis and promoting research into its therapeutic potential.

European associations behind the initiative now have six months to launch a petition campaign, followed by a year to collect one million signatures across at least seven Member States, to compel a review of the proposal.

Original Proposal Objectives

The original proposal outlined three objectives:

1. Convene a trans-European citizen assembly on cannabis policies, including sanctions and the coherence of Member States’ policies.
2. Enhance access to medical cannabis and allow the transportation of prescribed cannabis and its derivatives for therapeutic purposes to ensure full enjoyment of the right to health.
3. Allocate necessary resources for research into therapeutic uses of cannabis.

However, the Commission has only retained the latter two proposals and will not address the harmonization of European cannabis policies, potentially challenging the petition’s very principle.

“The Commission had to refuse the registration of the first objective of the initiative, as it falls outside its competence to submit a proposal for a legal act on the matter.”

In 2014, the Commission had already accepted an ECI on harmonizing European cannabis policies and legalizing cannabis, titled “Weed Like To Talk,” which gathered 170,000 signatures.

“The Commission has not analyzed the substance of the proposals at this stage,” it added. “The decision to register the initiative regarding its second and third objectives is of a legal nature and does not prejudge the Commission’s final legal and political conclusions on this initiative and the action it might intend to take, if any, should the initiative gain the necessary support.”

Initiative Evolution and Future Steps for Commission

The organizers had initially proposed a slightly more detailed version of the initiative last November, but the objectives were consolidated after initial review and feedback from the Commission.

Should the initiative’s authors gather at least one million signatures within a year, the Commission “must decide whether to follow up on the request and will be required to explain its reasoning.”

The “European Initiative on Cannabis”

The measure, titled “European Initiative on Cannabis” (EIC), indicates that the EU has “gradually adopted common positions on innovative approaches to drug policy centered on human rights, a stance reflected in its participation in United Nations meetings.”

It also points out that member states such as Germany, Luxembourg and Malta have advanced broader reforms aimed at legalizing cannabis.

“The lack of significant progress in containing illicit narcotics in Europe calls for a radical rethink of the approach that for decades has failed to reduce drug supply and demand. There is no evidence that tougher penalties have made Europe’s drug control system more effective, whereas they have mobilized resources to reduce the risks and/or harm associated with problem drug use. This ECI aims to examine some of the reasons why this has happened”.

Last year, a UN panel of experts called for an end to the global war on drugs, and a separate commission on drug policy, made up of presidents and prime ministers from around the world, argued for legal and regulated access to currently illicit substances.

In the context of this possible European cannabis initiative, the leaders of EU member state Germany’s coalition government recently declared that they had reached final agreement on a bill to legalize cannabis nationwide, paving the way for a vote in the last week of February and enactment in April.

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(Featured image by Guillaume Périgois via Unsplash)

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