In a major achievement for ending marijuana prohibition in Europe, the country of Luxembourg will become the first to legalize cannabis on the continent.
According to a CNN report, Luxembourg is set to become the first European nation to legalize the growing and use of cannabis, the government announced in a statement last week.
Under the new legislation, adults over 18 in the country will be allowed to use cannabis, and to grow up to four plants per household, which would make it the first country in Europe to fully legalize the production and consumption of the drug.
Decriminalization will lower the current fines for possession of the drug to between $29 and $581 for possession of three grams or less, down from the current fines of $291 to $2,910.
It will still remain illegal to consume the plant in public. Trading seeds would also be permitted under the new legislation, with no limit on the quantity or levels of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive component of cannabis.
Justice minister Sam Tanson described the change to the law on domestic production and consumption as a first step.
“We thought we had to act, we have an issue with drugs and cannabis is the drug that is most used and is a large part of the illegal market,” she said.
“We want to start by allowing people to grow it at home. The idea is that a consumer is not in an illegal situation if he consumes cannabis and that we don’t support the whole illegal chain from production to transportation to selling where there is a lot of misery attached. We want to do everything we can to get more and more away from the illegal black market.”
