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topicnews · September 19, 2024

Cannabis clubs in Fulda about to start

Cannabis clubs in Fulda about to start

  1. Fulda Newspaper
  2. Fulda

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From: Christopher Hess

Looking forward to the launch of the cannabis club “Exotic Kingdom CSC Fulda”: The founder Willi Kappes in the cultivation hall of a partner in Switzerland. © private

Cannabis clubs have been able to apply for licenses since July 1st. In Fulda, after months of preparation, a club is now in the starting blocks. Cannabis will soon be able to be set up there and distributed among members. But the bureaucratic hurdles are high.

Fulda – “We are looking forward to the launch,” says Willi Kappes, founder of the “Exotic Kingdom CSC Fulda”. The Cannabis Social Club, founded three years ago, is about to receive its license after months of preparation. A meeting with the police and the relevant authorities as the final step is to take place in the next few weeks.

“Our concepts, the cultivation area and the distribution point will be checked and approved,” explains Kappes. The 26-year-old is looking ahead with confidence: “We will complete courses on addiction prevention in the near future, after which we should be approved.”

Fulda Cannabis Club about to launch: Currently around 100 members

If this is the case, hemp plants can be grown communally for non-commercial purposes according to the provisions of the Cannabis Act, which came into force on April 1st, and the cannabis produced can be passed on to adult members for their own use. A maximum of 25 grams per day and a maximum of 50 grams of cannabis per month per member are permitted. Smaller amounts apply to adolescents between the ages of 18 and 21.

Kappes and his team at the “Exotic Kingdoms” have been preparing for this day since it was founded at the end of 2022: “We have been preparing for almost two years. It was clear to us that legalization would happen at some point. We are happy that politicians took this step in April.”

Even before the start, the club had around 100 members. “We were once almost 300 people, but a few dropped out – for a variety of reasons,” says Kappes. Financial reasons also played a role, he says. Anyone who becomes a member pays a one-off joining fee of 200 euros and then 25 euros a month. Capital is needed, especially at the start. A three-day prevention course alone costs 600 euros, and the application itself costs 3,500 euros.

Age of members “between 35 and 50 years”

The association already has a 350 square meter hall for cultivation: “This will be located in Bad Brückenau,” says Kappes. “The headquarters and the first distribution point will of course still be in Fulda. But there will also be a distribution point in Bad Brückenau (Lower Franconia) next to the cultivation hall, “in order to increase our reach and reach even more people.”

The core goal of Kappes’ involvement with the Cannabis Club: “We want to effectively push back the black market and strengthen youth protection,” explains Kappes.

Bavarian authorities accept license application from Fulda Growers Association

Based in Fulda, the State of Hesse and the Darmstadt Regional Council are actually responsible for examining the license application. They have so far received 16 applications from Hessian cannabis social clubs. However, in the case of the “Exotic Kingdom CSC Fulda”, the Bavarian state authority – the Bavarian State Office for Health and Food Safety in Erlangen – is examining the application.

Club founder Willi Kappes explains the step as follows: “We didn’t want to waste any time. In Hesse, it was not yet possible to submit an application at that time.” In response to our newspaper’s inquiry, the RP press office said that a project group had now been set up within the RP Darmstadt “which will ensure that applications for the approval of non-commercial cultivation associations are processed within legal requirements.”

A decision on the application for a permit is to be made within three months. While prevention training courses are already taking place in Bavaria, coordination is currently underway in Hesse and training courses for prevention officers have been offered.

Regarding the specific case of the “Exotic Kingdom”, the RP states: “As the cultivation association is based in Fulda, the RP Darmstadt is generally responsible for issuing the permit.” However, the cultivation association also has a seat in Bavaria. Therefore, after consulting with the applicant, the licensing authority in Bavaria asked to take over the processing of the application. The RP Darmstadt has agreed to take over.”

It is still unclear how much cannabis will be set up in the hall of the Cannabis Social Club in the future. That depends on the demand from members. Kappes contradicts the assumption that young people in particular want to smoke joints and become members of cannabis clubs: “The average age of our members is between 35 and 50 years. Young people hardly register so far.”

Video: Instructions for starting a cannabis social club

Cannabis clubs have been allowed to apply for a license from the responsible authority nationwide since July 1st. The Fulda-based club used the time while the authority was reviewing the application to prepare all the concepts: “We have developed a destruction concept, a hygiene concept, a comprehensive transport concept as well as concepts for escape routes and fire protection,” says Kappes. Further concepts are currently being worked on.

The club also focuses on youth protection and addiction prevention. As part of its prevention work, the “Exotic Kingdom” association wants to offer workshops and educate schools about the dangers of cannabis consumption for young people in their development phase. A prevention center “led by experts” is available for the club’s members.

How Cannabis Social Clubs should work

Cannabis Social Clubs (CSC) are associations for the communal cultivation of hemp plants. Their members support each other in growing their own cannabis. The flowers produced are further processed within the association and used for their own use. The cannabis clubs are allowed to distribute 50 grams per month to people over 21 years of age. 30 grams per month can be distributed to adults up to 21 years of age. The associations must not have more than 500 members to whom cannabis is distributed.

The cannabis sold through CSC must also be tested for harmful substances in a laboratory. A leaflet must explain the ingredients. The law also stipulates how the cannabis social clubs should deal with the issue of addiction prevention. The clubs must specify a prevention mandate and present a youth protection concept. Advertising is prohibited by law for the clubs and distance rules must be observed from kindergartens, schools, playgrounds and youth facilities.

Cannabis clubs advertise the benefits of offering members the opportunity to consume legal, clean and tested cannabis products.

A second cultivation association, the “Broccoli Buddies”, is about to be launched in Fulda. At the end of March, the cannabis club already had around 350 members. When asked, chairwoman Elena Fischer did not want to provide any information on the status of a possible licensing process.

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