Where Is Cannabis Legal In Europe? A Guide To The Latest Policy Changes

In a milestone for European drug policy, the first regulated sales of adult-use cannabis took place in Switzerland last year, while January 2024 saw the first legal non–profit cannabis club open its doors in Malta.

While North America has stormed ahead when it comes to establishing legal cannabis markets, in the last few years a growing number of other jurisdictions around the world have also advanced towards adult-use legalization—albeit mostly taking a more cautious approach.

Where Is Cannabis Legal In Europe

While more than 20 European countries have now introduced some form of legislation to permit the medicinal use of cannabis, Germany was the first major player to announce its intentions to fully legalize in 2022.

Marijuana Travel guide in Vienna

Ministers later scaled back plans for a commercial market after meetings with the European Commission. EU law and the United Nations 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs—which all member states are signed up to—prohibit the commercial sale of cannabis for adult-use.

In order to get around this some countries wishing to pursue policy change have opted for a non-profit model, which drug policy analysts describe as an “extension of personal decriminalization”, which aims to avoid legislative issues by forgoing a commercial market.Where Is Cannabis Legal In Europe

A second model, now underway in Switzerland and The Netherlands—and proposed in Germany and Czech Republic—is the pilot programme approach, which gives limited access to regulated cannabis sales while monitoring the effects on public health within a scientific study.