Planning your next holiday? Love a bit of the green stuff? Well, there’s now a new destination to add to your list of weed-friendly countries. Germany has announced its plans to relax rules around growing and consuming cannabis for recreational use.
Germany’s new cannabis policy will see those aged 21 or above be allowed to legally obtain up to 25 grams of cannabis a day from non-profit members’ clubs, with a limit of 50 grams a month. For those aged between 18 and 21, the monthly allowance limit will sit at 30 grams. Consuming the herb on the clubs’ premises, however, will be forbidden.
The new regulations will also decriminalise adults cultivating recreational cannabis in their own homes, with the home-growing of up to three female flowering plants allowed.
The second phase of the new policy, limited to five years, will allow specialist shops in numerous cities and municipalities across Germany to sell recreational cannabis as a part of a pilot programme akin to those in the USA and Canada.
The German government is justifying its new weed laws by saying they’ll be effective in cutting down on black market activities and organised crime. The government says it’ll be mainly focused on regulating the quality of cannabis in the country (rather than the price) and that the new weed market will be one of the most liberal, but also the most tightly regulated, in Europe.
There are only one or two other places where you can smoke marijuana legally in Europe. Malta legalised the recreational use of the drug in recent years, becoming the first European country to actively legalise (rather than just decriminalise) weed.
But across the rest of Europe, decriminalisation of cannabis and hash is much more common than full-on legalisation. Possession of certain amounts of the drug for personal recreational use is decriminalised in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Estonia, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain.
Famous cannabis hotspot the Netherlands has decriminalised possession of up to five grams, but technically only tolerates the drug’s sale and consumption. And the country may actually be tightening its attitude, with Amsterdam planning to ban tourists from its cannabis coffeeshops and banning weed in its red light district.
Did you read about Amsterdam cracking down on rowdy tourists?
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