Cannabis Use Largely Stable Following Partial Legalization; Cocaine Use Has Been on the Rise for Several Years

Anna Bindler and Andreea-Maria Stoica

DIW Weekly Report, 2026, vol. 16, issue 13, 113-121

Abstract: Two years after the partial legalization of cannabis, this Weekly Report examines current developments in the German cannabis and other illicit drug markets. The analysis is based on police crime statistics, survey data, wastewater data, and price information. The number of recorded cannabis and drug offenses declined noticeably in 2024, primarily reflecting a statistical effect. Regarding cannabis use, survey and wastewater data show no systematic changes in the short-term. Cannabis prices also remain largely stable. Various indicators point to dynamic increases for other illicit substances, particularly cocaine and methamphetamine, with regional differences. The timing of changes in violent crime or acquisitive crime cannot be directly linked to the reform. Overall, the available data suggest that, in the short term, the partial legalization primarily had legal effects, while developments in other illicit drug markets follow independent trends. Prevention and monitoring of these markets remain key policy challenges.

Keywords: cannabis; drugs; crime; legalization; police (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I18 K32 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_ ... 7.de/dwr-26-13-1.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:diw:diwdwr:dwr16-13-1

Access Statistics for this article

DIW Weekly Report is currently edited by Tomaso Duso, Marcel Fratzscher, Peter Haan, Claudia Kemfert, Alexander Kritikos, Alexander Kriwoluzky, Stefan Liebig, Lukas Menkhoff, Karsten Neuhoff, Carsten Schröder, Katharina Wrohlich and Sabine Fiedler

More articles in DIW Weekly Report from DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Bibliothek ().