Weed is finally legal in Germany, but it may still be verboten at one of the country’s signature events. According to Forbes, the “German federal state of Bavaria is considering the possibility of restricting cannabis use at the famous Oktoberfest following the legalization of cannabis for personal use.”

“Bavaria government aims to restrict public spaces for consuming cannabis at events like Oktoberfest by establishing cannabis-free zones, as first reported by DPA (German Press Agency),” Forbes reported. “Oktoberfest in Munich is the world’s largest beer festival, featuring traditional Bavarian music, food, and the consumption of about 6 million litres of beer. The festival spans a two-week period, culminating on the first Sunday in October.”

Earlier this month, on the first day of April, German citizens celebrated the end of pot prohibition, which made it the largest country in Europe to pass legalization. It is the third country in the European Union to legalize weed, following Malta and Luxembourg.

Under the law, Germans aged 18 and older are legally permitted to have up to 25 grams of weed and public and up to 50 grams at home.

The law also permits so-called “cannabis clubs,” which will open for business on July 1. Those clubs will allow up to 500 members to personally grow cannabis, but the law does not permit commercial weed sales.

The Associated Press has more background on the new cannabis law:

“Individuals would be allowed to buy up to 25 grams per day, or a maximum 50 grams per month — a figure limited to 30 grams for under-21s. Membership in multiple clubs would not be allowed. The clubs’ costs would be covered by membership fees, which would be staggered according to how much marijuana members use. The government plans a ban on advertising or sponsoring cannabis, and the clubs and consumption won’t be allowed in the immediate vicinity of schools, playgrounds and sports facilities. An evaluation of the legislation’s effect on protection of children and youths is to be carried out within 18 months of the legislation taking effect…The plan falls significantly short of the government’s original ambitions, which foresaw allowing the sale of cannabis to adults across the country at licensed outlets. The project was scaled back following talks with the European Union’s executive commission. Parliament’s upper house, which represents Germany’s 16 state governments, could in principle delay the legislation, though it doesn’t formally require the chamber’s approval. Bavaria’s conservative state government has said it would examine whether legal action against the liberalization plan is possible. The legislation is one of several that Scholz’s coalition, which has since become highly unpopular as a result of economic weakness and persistent infighting, pledged when it took office in 2021. It has eased rules on gaining citizenship and ended restrictions on holding dual citizenship. Among other policies, it also plans to make it easier for transgender, intersex and nonbinary people to change their gender and name in official registers.”

Lawmakers in Germany approved the measure in February.

“We have two goals: to crack down on the black market and improved protection of children and young people,” Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said at the time.

As Forbes reported, following the launch of legalization on April 1, “states like Bavaria are attempting to restrict consumption in public spaces despite the new legislation allowing consumers to use cannabis following specific rules.”

“Although no final decision was made at the cabinet meeting on Tuesday, as specified by the Head of Chancellery and State Minister of Bavaria Florian Herrmann, Bavaria’s ministries are currently exploring additional ‘restriction options’ for cannabis. The aim is to make cannabis consumption less appealing, with a decision likely to be made next week,” the outlet said. 

“On March 25, one week before cannabis officially became legal for personal use, Bavaria released a catalog of fines related to cannabis consumption in public spaces, as the authorities in the federal states are now responsible for imposing fines for violations of the law, establishing fines of up to €1,000 ($1,085) for consuming cannabis in unauthorized public spaces or in the presence of children or young people, and up to €30,000 ($32,564) for activities related to advertising and distributing cannabis,” the outlet continued. “In addition to Oktoberfest, where beer gardens and outdoor areas of restaurants might be off-limits for cannabis, local authorities are also evaluating implementing this restriction in Englischer Garten (English Garden), one of Germany’s most renowned and largest public parks.”

In a post on X on Tuesday, Markus Söder, Minister-President of Bavaria and Leader of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU), said that Bavaria would not become a “stoner’s paradise.” Söder opposed cannabis legalization, a view that was shared by conservatives in Germany’s parliament. 

“You’re asserting here in all seriousness as health minister … that we will curb consumption among children and young people with the legalization of further drugs,” conservative lawmaker Tino Sorge said to Lauterbach during the debate in parliament earlier this year. “That’s the biggest nonsense I’ve ever heard.”

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A study conducted in Canada and recently published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence shows that beer sales have declined since legalization began in 2018. The study involved researchers from the College Pharmacy at the University of Manitoba, School of Pharmacy at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto.

The study, which was published on Feb. 27, shows that beer sales in Canada have dropped significantly. “Canada-wide beer sales fell by 96 hectoliters per 100,000 population immediately after non-medical cannabis legalization and by 4 hectoliters per 100,000 population each month thereafter for an average monthly reduction of 136 hectoliters per 100,000 population post-legalization,” authors wrote. A hectoliter is a unit of measurement frequently used in reference to wine, beer, grain, or other agricultural goods, and is the total of 100 liters (1 liter is approximately 0.26 liquid gallons).

However, researchers also explained that cannabis legalization did not cause any reduction in spirit sales (which covers whisky, rum, gin, tequila, liqueurs, and vodka).

Additionally, researchers believe that cannabis use could potentially lead to higher alcohol use in some people, specifically “those with greater sensation-seeking behaviors.” However, they also wrote that some consumers are substituting cannabis in the place of alcohol. 

Data on beer and spirits sales in Canada were taken from the Beer Canada and Spirits Canada resources. Beer Canada provided details about approximately 90% of total Canadian beer sales, while Spirits Canada showed sales in relation to whisky, rum, gin, tequila, liqueurs, and vodka but did not include ready-to-drink cocktails. Beer sales were reviewed between January 2012-February 2020, and spirits sales were examined between January 2016-February 2020.

The study reviewed results in all Canadian provinces. In Manitoba and Ontario, researchers saw the most significant decline in beer sales, while cannabis did not affect beer sales in Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia. Provinces referred to as Western provinces (British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan) “saw the largest reductions in average monthly beer sales which ranged between 228 and 505 hectoliters per 100,000 population over the post-legalization study period.” In Atlantic provinces (New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island), there was “no significant immediate or lagged impact of cannabis legalization on beer sales.”

Researchers called this study the “first quasi-experimental evidence” on the shift in beer and spirits sales in Canada after the launch of adult-use cannabis, with three key points. “First, Canada-wide beer sales dropped after the legalization, but there was no change in spirits sales,” researchers wrote. “Second, the reductions in beer sales were seen in all except the Atlantic provinces with the four Western provinces experiencing relatively larger declines than the Central provinces. Third, the legalization was associated with a decline in canned and kegged beer sales, but we found no reduction in sales of bottled beer.”

Furthermore, the study asserts that consumers aren’t using alcohol and cannabis together. “While increased use of cannabis is not necessarily harmless and further research is needed to understand the health effects of the switch from alcohol to cannabis, the reduction in beer sales associated with the non-medical cannabis legalization suggests that individuals are likely not using alcohol and cannabis concurrently,” authors stated.

In the study conclusion, researchers summed up their most important findings. “We found that non-medical cannabis legalization was associated with an immediate decline in beer sales,” they stated. “Furthermore, beer sales continued to decline in the post-legalization period, suggesting that individuals are moving away from beer towards legal cannabis. These declines in beer sales were most pronounced in the four Western provinces. Meanwhile, we found no change in spirits sales following the legalization.”

Many people have found that substituting alcohol for cannabis is beneficial across the board. 

Celebrities such as Hulk Hogan shared in August 2023 that he swapped both opioids and alcohol for CBD. “At first, I was confused because I’d never used CBD,” Hogan said. “I didn’t understand the health aspects of what it can do for you as far as energy, sleep or getting off hard drugs or pharmaceuticals slowly and winding down are concerned. It took me a while to figure it out because I am a little slow. I had to do a lot of research and do my due diligence. I figured this was something that really would benefit a lot of people that needed help—and I know it will.”

Many other studies, such as one published in the journal Alcohol in November 2023, shows that abstaining from alcohol consumption can undo the effects of cortical thinning in the human brain. Other studies have explored how cannabis states have helped reduce consumption of both tobacco as well as alcohol.

Some states view cannabis as different than alcohol, so much that last December in Connecticut, alcohol sales were not legally allowed to be sold on Christmas and New Year’s Day, but cannabis was.

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Leaders of a historic South American empire used a beer mixed with a psychedelic drug to maintain political control over their society and surrounding communities, according to research published on Wednesday. 

In a study published by the journal Antiquity, archaeologists revealed that leaders of the Wari people served a beer-like beverage made from the fruits of the molle tree combined with the seeds of the vilca tree and served the mixture to guests at communal feasts.

“The resulting psychotropic experience reinforced the power of the Wari state, and represents an intermediate step between exclusionary and corporate political strategies,” the researchers wrote in an abstract of the study published online by Cambridge University Press. “This Andean example adds to the global catalog documenting the close relationship between hallucinogens and social power.”

The Wari built their empire in the highlands of the Andes mountains in current-day Peru, ruling the area from about 600-1000 A.D. and predating the Inca empire by four centuries. Archeologists excavating at Quilcapampa in Southern Peru from 2013 through 2017 discovered the first evidence of psychedelic vilca seeds found at a Wari site. 

Matthew Biwer, a visiting assistant professor of archaeology at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania and the lead author of the study, said that the discovery sheds light on how South American indigenous civilizations made use of psychoactive substances.

“This was a turning point in the Andes in terms of politics and use of hallucinogens,” Biwer said, as reported by CNN. “We see this kind of use of hallucinogens as different use context than in prior civilizations, who seem to have closely guarded the use of hallucinogens to a select few, or the latter Inca Empire who emphasized the mass-consumption of beer but did not use psychotropic substances such as vilca at feasts.”

Pre-Columbian civilizations used vilca, often inhaled as snuff, as long as 4,000 years years ago. The seeds contain the psychedelic drug dimethyltryptamine, as well as bufotenine, a substance similar to the neurotransmitter serotonin. 

“What I’ve read from ethnographic sources is that you get a very strong sensation of flying,” Biwer told Inverse.

Party Hosts Rule the Empire

Previous research has revealed that the Wari used feasting and beer as a way to exercise political control over guests from surrounding communities. Researchers at the Quilcapampa site discovered evidence that the Wari were making molle beer, called chicha, in substantial quantities. Botanical remnants of molle and vilca were found and ceramics were discovered at the center of the site, an indication of where feasts were held, according to the study’s authors.

“The Wari added the vilca to the chicha beer in order to impress guests to their feasts who could not return the experience,” Biwer said. “This created an indebted relationship between Wari hosts and guests, likely from the surrounding region.”

“We argue that the feasting, beer, and vilca thus served to create and cement social connections between Wari affiliated peoples and locals as the Empire expanded,” Biwer continued. “It also was a way for Wari leaders to demonstrate and maintain social, economic, and political power.”

Biwer explained that the guests would experience social pressure to recognize the power of their Wari hosts and feel an obligation to reciprocate the favor in the future. 

“There’s political power in being able to acquire and use these hallucinogenic substances and providing these experiences,” Biwer said. “I think it provides a really good example of the connection between politics, drug use, intoxication and the social bonds.”

Researchers have not yet discovered why the Wari civilization eventually failed. But as they continue to study sites inhabited by the pre-Columbian civilization, they are learning more about how the early inhabitants of Peru lived.

“​The Wari Empire stretched from northern Peru to the far south near the Chilean border, and from the coast to the mountainous areas of the Andes,” Biwer explained. “It is the first example of an empire in South America, having collapsed around 400 years prior to the rise of the Inca Empire.”

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Cannabis and the hops in beer are cousins, and go together perfectly. Check out our guide on how to pair the two.

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