Recreational marijuana is now legal in Germany: what you can and can’t do

More than four million Germans regularly use marijuana. Starting this Monday, April 1st, it is allowed smoking it in public spaces but always more than 100 meters away of the places where minors move.

Some supporters of legalization demonstrated and smoked their first legal joints, after midnight, to welcome such a reform They had been waiting for a long time.

From now on, An adult can purchase 25 grams per day, possess 50 grams of marijuana to your home, where you can also grow up to three plants. It is expected that in July the cannabis clubswhere 500 registered members will be able to exchange their production.

The law largely copies the experiment started by Uruguay 11 years ago and carried out by German government experts consider successful.

Some governments of conservative states from southern Germany, however, have already announced it they will use the restrictions to the fullest that the law allows. “It will be chaos,” the president of the Christian Democrats Friedrich Merz apocalyptically predicted.

The rules they are numerous and still not everything is clear. Therefore, checks can be complicated. Currently only traders can supply recreational cannabis until clubs start operating.

The young people of Only 18 to 21 year olds have the right to light cannabis. The police will theoretically have to control its consumption. Also, driver testing is not available.

Fight against traffic

The judges will now have to ropen 200,000 cases thanks to the amnesty provided by the new law.

One of the German government’s goals is to better regulate drug use, but so is the intention fight against trafficking and organized crime.

Experiences in other parts of the world have not been very successful, according to specialist Michel Gandilhon, member of the scientific guidance council of the International Crime Observatory and author of the book Drugs, Illicit Drugs and Trafficking in France.

“The objective is to take away that market from criminal organizations, that is, to weaken them. But what we see is that it can be subtracted in its entirety. A black market will likely persist“, underlines the expert.

“In Colorado, for example, a very liberal state in terms of legalization, 30% of the market is still in the hands of criminal organizations. However, Mexican cartels have witnessed the decline of the criminal cannabis market, as it was handed over to private companies. To balance, criminal organizations took advantage the opioid crisis“We are seeing a resurgence of heroin, which is why many organizations have resorted to heroin trafficking,” explains Gandilhon.

In the rest of Europe

Recreational use of cannabis It is banned in the vast majority of European countries. With its new legislation, Germany joins Malta (2021) and Luxembourg (2023), which apply a very strict framework on the amount of product you can have at home.

There are also countries that have decriminalized recreational cannabis such as Holland, Spain or Portugal. The difference is subtle, but it means consumers it cannot be processed.

In Spain there are consumer clubs tolerated by the authorities. The same goes for famous people. “coffee shops” Dutch. Contrary to what you might think, the retail sale of cannabis is tolerated, but its production and distribution are illegal.

In the rest of the European UnionIt is prohibited to possess cannabis for recreational use. The sanctions imposed vary greatly: they range from a fine of 280 euros in Latvia to a maximum of eight years in prison in Cyprus.