On June 6, the German Bundestag (German federal parliament) voted to adjust the currently existing adult-use cannabis law, including changes to restrictions for driving and cannabis club associations.

The driving changes were made by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport, which amended the country’s Road Traffic Act. The change included a new maximum THC blood content, which is now set at 3.5 nanograms per milliliter. Previously, the limit was set at one nanogram per milliliter. According to DW.com, this was done to create a restriction that is similar to the maximum alcohol blood content limit, which in Germany is 20 milligrams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood.

Prior to adopting this amendment, Bundestag member Kirsten Kappert-Gonther posted online about the thought behind the decision. “Today we are deciding on changes to the #Cannabis law. This was agreed with the Federal Council to prevent a blockade. The THC limit in road traffic will be set at 3.5ng/ml. This is how we create security and prevent #criminalization through the back door,” Kappert-Gonther said on June 6. “To curb the black market, competitive, legal and safe offers are needed. #CannabisClubs are essential for this. They support #health and #youth protection.”

The first time that a person is found in violation of the THC blood content maximum, they will be banned from driving for one month and receive a €500 fine. If violations continue, the fine is increased to €1,000 and individuals will receive a two-year ban on driving.

Currently, the method of testing a driver’s impairment is done through a saliva test. If a driver appears to be impaired, even if a saliva test is negative, they will be instructed to take a blood test.

Another recent amendment includes changes to rules for cultivation. Starting next month, cooperatives, or clubs, will be allowed to sell cannabis to members, and the amendment limits the canopy size of those cooperatives. “The new draft of the #CannabisLaw takes the concerns of the states into account. We are expanding the evaluation, making the control of cultivation associations more flexible, enabling adjustments to grow hubs and promoting training for addiction prevention specialists.” said Kristine Lütke, an addiction and drug policy spokesperson for Free Democrats Group. “Cannabis clubs play a central role in this. They enable legal, communal cultivation and thus contribute to the successful legalization. This ensures health and youth protection.” Cannabis clubs can have a maximum of 500 members.

Germany’s first day of legal adult-use cannabis was on April 1, which allows adults over 18 to possess up to 25 grams of cannabis in public, or 50 grams at home. Although cannabis clubs can dispense cannabis to members, cannabis sales have not yet been implemented.

In December 2023, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach told the German Bundestag that they were “currently examining” how to approach commercial sales, but there hasn’t been any solid plans announced yet. Kappert-Gonther spoke on June 7 about the necessity to get the ball rolling. “We need prevention and education instead of prohibition and ignorance!,” Kappert-Gonther said in a translation. “Unfortunately, the Union is often conspicuous by its ignorance. Criminalizing #cannabis, promoting alcohol and linking the increase in drug deaths to decriminalization lacks a clear #factual basis.”

Lütke also commented on the need to move forward. “It is now urgent that we move forward, as set out in the coalition agreement. The law on the second pillar with model projects for commercial supply chains to combat the black market and strengthen the cannabis economy must finally be presented,” Lütke said on social media. “On Sunday [June 9] there are elections to the EU Parliament: There must be a reform of EU law to enable the controlled legalisation of cannabis and independent drug policies in the member states. Freedom must apply throughout Europe!”

In April, the German state of Bavaria banned cannabis consumption at public festivals and inside beer gardens, which also extends to events like Oktoberfest. According to Bavarian Health Minister Judith Gerlach, the decision was made for public safety. “Our aim is to limit cannabis consumption in public spaces,” said Gerlach. “That is important for health protection and especially for protecting children and young people.”

Bavarian government officials have expressed their opposition to cannabis legalization. Minister-President of Bavaria Markus Söder posted online that he wouldn’t let the state turn into a “stoner’s paradise.”

Earlier this year, legislator Tino Sorge said that he doesn’t believe that cannabis legalization is a method of protecting youth. “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,” Sorge told Lauterbach. “That’s the biggest nonsense I’ve ever heard.”

Germany was the third country in the European Union to legalize cannabis. The first was Malta in December 2021, followed by Luxembourg in June 2023.

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Cannabis enthusiasts across Germany took to the streets at midnight early Monday morning to smoke joints and celebrate as the European nation’s legalization of cannabis took effect on April 1. German lawmakers gave final approval to a recreational weed legalization plan known as CanG late last month, making the country the largest in Europe to take the step.

In the German capital of Berlin, weed enthusiasts gathered at the iconic Brandenberg Gate to smoke weed and celebrate their new freedoms. Other events were held throughout Europe’s most populous country, including one in front of the Cologne cathedral and others in the cities of Hamburg, Regensburg and Dortmund.

“We can finally show ourselves, we don’t have to hide anymore,” Henry Plottke, a member of the German Hemp Association (DHV), told the news agency DPA at the celebration in Berlin.

The legalization of cannabis in Germany was supported by the three-party ruling coalition led by Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach extolled the virtues of the beginning of cannabis legalization in a social media post.

“Cannabis use already existed yesterday, but it’s increasing. Now it’s exiting the taboo zone,” he wrote on X on Monday, according to a translation from CNN. “This is better for real addiction help, prevention for children and young people and for combating the black market, for which there will soon be an alternative.”

Weed Is Legal for Adults 18 and Up

Under Germany’s CanG legalization plan, adults aged 18 and up are permitted to possess up to 25 grams of weed and public and up to 50 grams at home. The new law also allows adults to grow cannabis at home, with a cap of three plants. Public consumption of weed including smoking is also allowed, although there are restrictions on using cannabis near children and sports venues.

Beginning on July 1, adults will be allowed to join cannabis clubs, which will each provide access to weed for up to 500 members. For-profit commercial cannabis ventures are not permitted by the plan. Niklas Kouparanis, co-founder and CEO of Germany-based medical cannabis company Bloomwell Group, said that the cannabis club model could eventually lead to broader legalization of adult-use cannabis. 

“The provision allowing for cannabis clubs is an important step towards the de-stigmatization of cannabis use, as adult consumers will no longer be criminalized for simply smoking or ingesting the plant,” Kouparanis said in a statement to High Times. “Of course, our ultimate goal in Germany remains to legalize the entire value chain for a full-fledged adult-use market, going beyond the nonprofit, members-only cannabis clubs and creating a commercial market that can be accessed by all adult consumers.”

Opposition Vows To Repeal Legalization

Although legalizing cannabis was approved by both chambers of Germany’s bicameral parliament, the plan does not have universal support. After the plan was adopted, the conservative opposition vowed to repeal the CanG legislation if they can form a coalition government after next year’s national elections.

“In our view, drugs policy, particularly with respect to protecting young people, is an issue of such central significance that we will revoke the legalization of cannabis in the event we take power,” lawmaker Thorsten Frei told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper, Yahoo News reported on Saturday.

“In any possible coalition talks, [the rolling back of the legislation] will be a firm standpoint for us,” added Frei, the parliamentary leader of the alliance of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU).

The legalization of weed in Germany is also opposed by groups representing police officers, who fear the new legislation will be difficult to enforce. The law includes public consumption exclusion zones and exemptions, which could result in disagreements about where people can freely use cannabis.

“From April 1, our colleagues will find themselves in situations of conflict with citizens, as uncertainty reigns on both sides,” said Alexander Poitz, vice president of the GdP police union, according to a report from the Daily Mail.

The CanG plan also includes provisions to review past cannabis convictions, a process that opponents say will overwhelm the courts. Justice Minister Marco Buschmann, however, said it would mean less work for the judiciary and police in the long run.

“The changeover will mean a one-off increase in workload, but in the long term the police and judiciary will be relieved,” Buschmann told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland media group on Monday. “They will then be able to focus on even more relevant crime.”

Neighboring Austria Not On Board

While German weed enthusiasts celebrated cannabis legalization, neighboring countries have taken notice. In Austria, officials said they have no plans to follow Germany’s lead on cannabis policy reform and would implement measures to deter trans-border trade.

“The police will conduct intensified checks, particularly in areas near the border, to take addictive substances and drivers under the influence of drugs out of circulation,” Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said in a statement. “This is about the protection of all road users.”

The Interior Ministry added that plainclothes police officers and specialists trained to recognize signs of impairment would be deployed to the border in an effort to thwart smuggling attempts.

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The German government last week adopted a bill to end the prohibition of cannabis for adults that will make possession and home cultivation of weed legal in Europe’s most populous nation as of April 1. The legislation, which also allows for the establishment of cannabis clubs, was given final approval on Friday in the Bundesrat, Germany’s legislative chamber representing the country’s 16 federal states. The bill has already been approved by the second chamber of parliament known as the Bundestag, which voted to pass the legislation late last month.

Under the limited legalization bill known as CanG, adults aged 18 and up will be permitted to possess up to 25 grams of marijuana and store up to 50 grams of weed at home beginning on April 1. The measure also permits adults to grow as many as three cannabis plants at their residences. 

On July 1, Germany’s weed legalization plan will begin permitting non-commercial cannabis clubs, where members will have access to legally cultivated marijuana. Each cannabis club will be limited to no more than 500 members. The legislation does not include provisions that allow for-profit recreational marijuana producers or retailers.

“The fight was worth it,” Health Minister Karl Lauterbach wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, according to a translation from Politico. “Please use the new option responsibly.”

“Hopefully this is the beginning of the end for the black market today,” he added.

Before Friday’s vote, the leaders of several federal states called for a mediation committee to be convened to resolve disputes over the legislation with the Bundestag. Had the mediation committee been called, enactment of the cannabis legalization plan would have been delayed, likely by about six months.

The states raised concerns about an amnesty provision in the law that requires judicial review of tens of thousands of past cannabis cases, fearing the process would overwhelm the courts. Some also criticized the maximum cannabis possession amount as too high and called for weed prohibition zones near schools and kindergartens.

A motion to convene a mediation committee was offered but did not gain the number of votes needed for approval. The Bundesrat then voted to approve the plan to legalize cannabis in Germany, which will join Malta and Switzerland in the small group of European nations that have approved limited cannabis legalization plans.

Niklas Kouparanis, the CEO and co-founder of Frankfurt-based medical cannabis company Bloomwell Group, says that the legalization of adult-use cannabis in Germany will also have a significant impact on the nation’s existing medical marijuana industry. While there are now an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 medical cannabis patients in Germany, Kouparanis says that number is likely to increase by as much as 10 times when reclassification goes into effect.

“While it will probably take some time before the first licensed clubs – permitted under the new law – produce significant amounts of recreational cannabis, the CanG is the best news for the German medical cannabis industry since the ‘Cannabis as Medicine’ law passed in March 2017,” Kouparanis wrote in a statement to High Times.

“Starting April 1st, medical cannabis will no longer be classified as a narcotic, and can now be prescribed by physicians as a completely ‘normal’ Rx, such as antibiotics or high-dose ibuprofen,” he added. “This reclassification significantly reduces costs and other administrative burdens to access–from cultivation to further processing and distribution, to storage to dispensing in the pharmacy.”

The limited cannabis legalization bill adopted on Friday is considered the “first pillar” of Germany’s cannabis policy reforms, Politico reports. The “second pillar” is expected after the decriminalization plan is in effect, and will consist of five-year municipal pilot programs for state-regulated cannabis to be sold at licensed retailers.

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Germany’s lower house of parliament voted last week to legalize the consumption and cultivation of cannabis by adults, although the measure passed by the Bundestag does not permit commercial sales of recreational marijuana. The legislation legalizes cannabis clubs, however, allowing groups of no more than 500 adults to collectively grow weed for personal use by club members.

“We have two goals: to crack down on the black market and improved protection of children and young people,” Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said during the debate on Friday after lawmakers opposed to legalizing cannabis accused him of promoting drug use, according to a report from Reuters.

The ruling three-party coalition led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz passed the legislation to legalize cannabis in the Bundestag on Friday by a vote of 407-226. Under the measure, adults aged 18 and up will be permitted to grow up to three cannabis plants and possess up to 25 grams (nearly an ounce) of cannabis. The personal possession and consumption provisions of the legislation are scheduled to go into effect on April 1.

The legislation also allows adults to join cannabis clubs of no more than 500 members beginning on July 1. Cannabis clubs would be permitted to grow cannabis for personal consumption by members, who would be allowed to purchase up to 25 grams of cannabis per day and 50 grams per month. Members younger than 21 would be capped at 30 grams of pot each month.

Membership in multiple cannabis clubs will not be allowed. The cost of cultivating cannabis and operating the clubs will be covered by membership fees, which will charged on a tiered scale based on the amount of cannabis a member uses each month.

The legislation bans locating cannabis clubs and consuming weed close to schools, playgrounds and sports facilities. Cannabis advertising and sponsorships are also prohibited. Additionally, the measure requires a report on the effectiveness of the legislation to protect children and youth from weed. 

German Lawmakers Back Away From Broader Legalization Plan

The plan to legalize cannabis in Germany falls short of the broad reform plan first proposed by the ruling coalition after taking power in December 2021. Under the original proposal, commercial cannabis production would have been permitted, with sales of weed occurring at licensed retailers across the country. The plan was scaled back, however, after talks with European Union officials.

Nonetheless, Germany’s limited cannabis legalization plan is opposed by conservative politicians in the Bundestag and the upper house of parliament known as the Bundesrat, which represents the country’s 16 state governments. 

“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, as quoted by the Associated Press. “That’s the biggest nonsense I’ve ever heard.”

Although the measure does not require the approval of the Bundesrat, the chamber could delay the legislation. The conservative government of the state of Bavaria has said it will examine whether it can bring legal action against the cannabis legalization plan.

After the vote, Lauterbach told reporters that illicit marijuana “dealers have no reason at all to celebrate,” noting that the new law includes provisions that set a minimum jail sentence of two years for those convicted of selling cannabis to underage youth.

The vote to legalize cannabis in Germany makes the country the third European Union nation to take the step, after Malta and Luxembourg. Jason Adelstone, an attorney focusing on federal and international policy at the cannabis law firm Vicente LLP, said that the legalization of cannabis in Germany could spur further reform across Europe.

“It is exciting to see the scaled-back German legalization measure finally become law. Even though Germany didn’t legalize commercial sales, the governing coalition should be applauded for turning the page on prohibition,” Adelstone said in an email to High Times. “With Germany joining Malta and Luxembourg in acknowledging that regulation, rather than prohibition, better protect the health and safety of its citizens, it could help propel other EU nations to do the same.”

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Germany took a major step toward marijuana reform on Wednesday when the country’s cabinet approved a bill that will liberalize its cannabis laws.

The approval comes a month after the country’s ministry of health released the draft bill of the new marijuana regulations.

After Wednesday, the measure still must be approved by the German parliament before it becomes law, but it marks a significant step.

As the Associated Press put it, the approval by the cabinet sets the stage “for the European Union’s most populous member to decriminalize possession of limited amounts and allow members of ‘cannabis clubs’ to buy the substance for recreational purposes.”

“The legislation is billed as the first step in a two-part plan and still needs approval by parliament. But the government’s approval is a stride forward for a prominent reform project of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s socially liberal coalition, though significantly short of its original ambitions,” the Associated Press reported on Wednesday. “The bill, which the government hopes will take effect at the end of this year, foresees legalizing possession of up to 25 grams (nearly 1 ounce) of cannabis for recreational purposes and allowing individuals to grow up to three plants on their own.”

According to the AP, German residents “who are 18 and older would be allowed to join nonprofit ‘cannabis clubs’ with a maximum 500 members each,” while the “clubs would be allowed to grow cannabis for members’ personal consumption.”

The reform effort has been months in the making, with German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach spearheading the charge.

“This is an important law that will represent a long-term change in drug policy,” Lauterbach said on Wednesday, as quoted by The New York Times.

In April, Lauterbach and other German officials unveiled a decidedly more scaled-back cannabis reform proposal than what was originally envisioned.

The original proposal, announced by Lauterbach last fall, “foresaw allowing the sale of cannabis to adults across the country at licensed outlets,” the Associated Press reported. 

The revisions to the cannabis proposal came after German officials met with the European Union. EU laws are always bound to be a potential impediment to the reform effort.

German Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir said that European law “sets us limits we must respect, but that I will also say we are pushing,” as quoted by the Associated Press.

Still, the reform is significant for what is Europe’s largest economy.

The New York Times has more background on how the weaker measure arrived before the cabinet on Wednesday, and all the obstacles it overcame along the way:

“The socially liberal coalition announced its intent to legalize recreational marijuana when it came into power in 2021, quickly finding consensus on an issue opposed for years by the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel. But implementation has proved difficult. A version of the plan introduced last year by Mr. Lauterbach would have allowed the distribution of marijuana through commercial stores. That idea was scuttled after meeting resistance from the European Union’s executive arm, the European Commission. Instead, the legislation approved on Wednesday allows distribution through the creation of licensed private cultivation associations with no more than 500 members. Members would be allowed to buy up to 25 grams — slightly less than an ounce — on any one day, but with a limit of 50 grams in a month. The German government also plans to launch a series of regional pilot programs that would allow the sale of cannabis through a small number of licensed specialty shops, in an attempt to gather more information about the effects of allowing individuals to purchase marijuana commercially.”

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A riveting piece published on Wednesday by Reuters brought into focus the response from law enforcement to illicit cannabis production and trafficking in the Spanish region of Catalonia.

“Heavily-armed police officers arrived in a well-to-do Barcelona suburb before dawn to raid a two-storey house that turned out to be packed with 800 marijuana plants growing under powerful lamps,” Reuters journalists Horaci Garcia and Joan Faus wrote. “The recent raid, on which Reuters accompanied the officers as they arrested two Albanian nationals, is part of an almost daily police routine in the Spanish region of Catalonia as it cracks down on the booming illegal production of marijuana, often run by local and international drug gangs.”

Catalonia, home to the majestic city of Barcelona, has a fraught relationship with the Spanish government –– and the tension has extended to cannabis policy. 

It is “now Spain’s top producing region, with most exports channelled by road to France,” according to Reuters, which noted that the region is “attractive because producers can use properties left empty after the bursting of Spain’s property bubble in 2008, the process to evict them is lengthy, theft of electricity does not carry a jail sentence, and marijuana-related crimes carry lighter sentences than in neighbouring countries.”

In 2017, Catalonia legalized cannabis clubs, but an abrupt court ruling in 2021 overturned that law. 

The ruling put the cannabis clubs that had sprung up around Barcelona in legal limbo, but as Reuters noted in its story this week, the clubs now operate under “self-imposed rules,” under which they “grow their own marijuana, only let in adults who can buy up to 60 grams monthly and take 15 days to approve memberships to put off short-term tourists.”

“But many clubs, which are often barely recognisable from outside, do not stick to the rules because they are voluntary,” according to Reuters.

“We believe the lack of (legal) control is causing many problems,” Eric Asensio, head of the Catalan federation of cannabis clubs, told the news service. 

Cultivating cannabis is against the law in Spain. Last year, Spanish lawmakers approved a measure that would authorize medical cannabis treatment in the country.

In November, the country’s “Guardia Civil,” a law enforcement agency in Spain, took down an organization with more than 32 tons of cannabis stored in various cities throughout the country. Police said that it was a record-setting bust.

“The Civil Guard has seized the largest cache of packaged marijuana found so far. The Jardines operation has concluded with the seizure of 32,370.2 kilograms of marijuana buds, the largest seizure of this substance, not only in Spain, but also internationally. Its equivalence in complete plants would be approximately 1,100,000 copies,” Spanish police said at the time.

“The twenty detainees – nine men and eleven women between the ages of 20 and 59 – were part of an organization with offices in Toledo, Ciudad Real, Valencia and Asturias, which controlled the entire drug production and distribution process,” the police continued in the announcement, detailing the arrest. “The investigation began with an inspection by the Civil Guard of several industrial hemp plantations in Villacañas (Toledo). The main [plantation] investigated owned a company with which they acquired the seeds. A second transported and planted them. Another company was in charge of the care, maintenance, collection and drying of the specimens.” 

The police said that the detainees packaged the contraband in “different formats to send them both to places in Spanish territory and to European countries, mainly Switzerland, Holland, Germany and Belgium.”

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