Cannabis in Germany - statistics & facts
On February 23, 2024, the draft on the controlled handling of cannabis was passed meaning that from April 1, 2024, adults in Germany will be able to possess up to 25 grams of cannabis on you and up to 50 grams in your home. It will also be legal to grow up to three cannabis plants at home. There will be some restrictions when it comes to usage, for example, smoking within 100 meters of schools, kindergartens, playgrounds and sports facilities as well as smoking in the pedestrian zones of city centers between 07:00 and 20:00. When it comes to the distribution of cannabis, there will be further laws introduced on July 1, 2024, which will allow clubs, which will be allowed to have up to 500 members, to be set up for cultivation. Another change as a consequence of legalization is that it will be easier for doctors to prescribe cannabis. Previously, doctors had to write a narcotics prescription in order to give a patient medication with cannabis, whilst from April 1, they will just be able to provide a normal prescription. In 2022, illegal means generated a revenue of around 14.2 billion dollars in Germany, and made up the majority of the cannabis market as a whole, but with the restrictions intended for when cannabis is legalized it is difficult to know how much the market will be worth. The hope of the government, however, is that this legalization will heavily impact the black market.
