The legalization of cannabis - as envisaged by the traffic light coalition in the federal government - would further burden the healthcare system, Holetschek warned, according to a statement on Sunday.

Between 2008 and 2020, the cases of inpatient psychoses treated in connection with cannabis would have increased more than tenfold - from 56 to 631 cases. In the outpatient sector, the number of psychoses rose from 1513 to 2007 cases between 2018 and 2020, it said. "This clearly shows that we need to put more effort into prevention and education instead of making cannabis legal," Holetschek said.

The CSU politician referred to examples from the USA: in states where cannabis had been legalized, the number of treatment cases had increased drastically. He said that this mistake should not be repeated in Germany.

"Politicians are obliged to also keep an eye on the costs of the healthcare system. Legal drugs such as alcohol and tobacco already place a considerable burden on the system. It would be negligent if the legalization of cannabis were to add another source of burden," Holetschek argued.

Photo by Elsa Olofsson