Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches und internationales Strafrecht

Cannabis Non-Prosecution Policies in Germany

The project aims 1) to analyze the non-prosecution of cannabis-related consumption offences in Germany,
2) to assess the implementation of the Bundesverfassungsgericht's "cannabis decision" of 1994 and
3) to evaluate the eventual impact of different state-level non-prosecution policies upon consumption patterns. It is part of a larger study coordinated by the Drug Policy Research Center (DPRC) at the RAND Corporation in the United States on the effects of cannabis depenalization in the United States and in several other Western countries.
The primary data collection for this project was carried out simultaneously with that of a comprehensive project examining prosecution and non-prosecution policies of all consumption-related drug offences. The present project distinguishes from this larger one for its focus on cannabis and its comparative approach. Considerable differences have been found in the non-prosecution of consumption-related drug offences across German states.