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Germany’s new law legalizing recreational cannabis use came into effect on April 1.
At midnight, hundreds of Berliners held a “smoke-in” at the Brandenburg Gate to publicly consume marijuana and celebrate decriminalization.
Germany is the third country in the European Union to legalize recreational use of cannabis, after Malta in 2021 and Luxembourg in 2023, according to Agence France-Presse.
Medical associations, police organizations and judges have misgivings about the law, arguing that marijuana can have a negative effect on the brain, which is still developing up until age 25 — or that the rules are not clear enough.
The legislation was part of an agreement by the country’s three-party coalition government. It allows the possession of cannabis possession (up to 25 grams) and home cultivation for adults (up to three plants).
Cannabis consumption may “now come out of the taboo zone,” posted German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach on X (formerly Twitter) Monday morning. He’d argued that legalization would help shut down the black market.
VIDEO: Berlin holds 'smoke-in' as recreational cannabis use law comes into force.
Several hundred cannabis enthusiasts gathered at midnight under the Brandenburg Gate to smoke marijuana in public as the new law legalising its recreational use comes into effect on April 1 pic.twitter.com/gULtOS5P55
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) April 1, 2024
Further parts of the legislation will allow “cannabis social clubs” to supply up to 500 members with a daily maximum of 25 grams and a monthly maximum of 50 grams. Members will have to have been residents of Germany for at least six months.
Those clubs won’t be fully operational before summer, however, as the part of the law that regulates cultivation in cannabis clubs will come into effect on July 1.
Consuming marijuana remains forbidden in a radius of 100 meters around schools, child care facilities and playgrounds.
