CDU Party Conference 2026: What the End of Cannabis Legalisation Really Means

On 21 February 2026, the CDU party conference in Stuttgart adopted a motion by the Frauen Union calling on the CDU/CSU–SPD federal government to repeal the Consumer Cannabis Act (KCanG). Under the motion, possession, cultivation and distribution of cannabis would once again become criminal offences. It sounds dramatic – but how realistic is it really?

What exactly was decided?

A clear majority of the conference backed the demand to completely reverse the partial legalisation of cannabis from April 2024. The motion was led by Frauen Union chair Nina Warken, with support from Bavaria's health minister Judith Gerlach (CSU). Their argument: legalisation puts the protection of young people and public health at risk.

But a party conference resolution is not a law. And there is a considerable gap between what the CDU demands internally and what is politically achievable.

Why a repeal will be extremely difficult

1. The coalition agreement puts on the brakes

The coalition agreement between the CDU/CSU and the SPD does not provide for abolishing the KCanG – instead, it calls for an "open-ended evaluation". This evaluation is already under way. Only once its results are available are changes to be decided. The SPD, which played a key role in pushing the law through under health minister Karl Lauterbach, is unlikely to allow its own reform project to be scrapped without a solid basis in data.

2. The evaluation tells a different story

The EKOCAN interim report from October 2025 shows that there has been no sudden rise in cannabis use since legalisation. According to the data, overall consumption has actually been declining since 2019. That considerably weakens the opponents' main argument. The next major evaluation, on organised crime, is due in April 2026 – and here too, experts do not expect any dramatic findings.

3. Legal hurdles

A complete reversal of legalisation would be legally highly complex. Cannabis Social Clubs that were founded and licensed legally could claim compensation in the event of a ban – a kind of expropriation problem. That makes a 180-degree U-turn extremely unattractive for lawmakers.

4. Society thinks differently

Even among CDU voters, 46 per cent support full legalisation with regulated specialist shops. Among the population as a whole, support is even higher. The CDU leadership is moving against the social trend here – and it knows it.

What is actually likely to happen

Rather than a complete repeal, gradual tightening is far more likely. There are already early signs: telemedicine for medical cannabis is set to be restricted, and the rules for Cannabis Social Clubs could be tightened. A complete ban on recreational cannabis, however, is hardly realistic during this legislative period.

What matters now

Legalisation is not about to come to an end – but it is not set in stone either. The coming months will be decisive, especially once further evaluation results are available. Now is the moment when objective information counts: facts instead of ideology, data instead of gut feeling.

Anyone who wants to preserve and further develop legalisation should get active now:

• Contact your MPs: The German Hemp Association (DHV) offers templates and tools at hanfverband.de for writing to your own constituency MP. That carries more weight than any online petition.

• Sign the petition: More than 35,000 people have already signed the Cannabis Petition 2026 on cannazen.de.

• Share the facts: Share objective information with the people around you. Many people don't know that the evaluation shows no increase in consumption. The more people know the facts, the harder it becomes to conduct the debate on purely ideological grounds.

Conclusion

The CDU party conference resolution is a political signal – but not a death sentence for cannabis legalisation. The hurdles to a repeal are high, the data speak against it, and society is moving in a different direction. What counts now is informed pressure and objective information. Not one step back.