Due to a ruling of the Mannheim Regional Court, which can be attributed to a loophole in the CanG., the justice ministers of the CDU/CSU fear that more and more large-scale dealers will benefit from the new law and therefore demand adjustments to the law.
No judgement, despite large-scale import
The aforementioned verdict was passed in the Mannheim Regional Court. This concerned a man, who shortly after the introduction of the new cannabis law, despite being accused of illegal import of 450 kilograms of weed valued at 1.9 million euros, was acquitted. The investigators had convicted him exclusively by evaluating encrypted Encrochat messages. However, such Encrochat data may only be used due to the interference with the privacy of correspondence protected by Art. 10 of the Basic Law in the resolution of particularly serious crimes and in compliance with the requirements regulated in accordance with § 100 b in the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The question now is whether the import of such amounts of cannabis is considered a serious crime?
The penalty has changed
Since the new cannabis law came into effect on 01.04.2024, the legal assessment of cannabis offenses has changed. Not all trading of larger amounts of cannabis is considered serious enough that an online search and the use of Encrochat data can be justified. Such searches are only allowed in particularly serious cases like organized or armed trade.
Thus, the man was "only" accused of commercial trafficking of cannabis, which can be punished by the new law with three months to five years imprisonment. Before April 1st, this accusation would have been enough to use Encrochat data as evidence. However, since the court applied the new, milder legal situation, the man was acquitted. The prosecutor's office has appealed the verdict.
The Justice Ministers of the CDU and CSU are demanding that the loophole in the new cannabis law be closed. The case from Mannheim has shown that the law could potentially favor serious drug crime, so says Bavaria's Justice Minister Georg Eisenreich.
Ministers from Baden-Wurttemberg, Bavaria, Brandenburg, Hesse, Schleswig-Holstein, Saxony-Anhalt, and the Justice Senator from Berlin are also concerned that since the new cannabis law came into effect, defendants are being acquitted because evidence cannot be used under the new legal situation. They are calling for quick adjustments to the law and emphasize that the Mannheim case is not an isolated case. Other courts have made similar decisions.
No rush for an adjustment
A quick adjustment to the Cannabis Act will not be made, as confirmed by the Federal Ministry of Justice. Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann rejected the CDU Justice Minister Gentges' wish for quick changes. Buschmann justified his decision with the constitutional principle of proportionality. The fight against crime must be constitutional and proportionate. Therefore, only certain serious crimes associated with cannabis have been included in the monitoring catalogs, especially those related to organized crime or endangering minors.
A spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Justice explained that this decision was based on a changed risk assessment. The penalty ranges for certain cannabis offenses have been reduced compared to the previous Narcotics Act. Instead of changing the law after only a month and a half, they want to wait and see how the Federal Court of Justice and other courts decide in similar cases.