Cannabis Culture Shock in Germany
Photos Courtesy of Author
On April 1st, 2024 Germany legalized the use of recreational cannabis. While not the first European country to do so, it is definitely the most powerful one to legalize.
I flew into Berlin, Germany days before the big day, excited at the prospect of living and working from my new temporary home. I’d never been to Europe before and my friend Julia, recently relocated from Canada to her birthplace, was my gracious host.
Coming from Canada with legal pot shops on every corner, a thriving legacy market, and the right to grow your own, you don’t realize how good you have it until you don’t. But maybe my time in Germany would help me see things differently.
A Canadian’s Cannabis Experience in Berlin
With legalization having just happened, acquiring cannabis felt much like the days when I had to buy off the street. Not speaking the language fluently and not interested in venturing to a park hoping to find someone loitering, I called up a connection living in Berlin. Fred was a fellow Ganjier and I thought he could help me. I knew it was around, more than once smelling weed wafting in the Berlin air. Plus it’s a city of 3 million, and prohibition doesn’t work.
The call did not go as expected. Fred had just gotten his medical card, allowing him to order weed from an online dispensary which meant he didn’t need to buy off the street. He knew a guy who could help me but I’d need to get a half-ounce minimum to make it worth his while. That was too expensive and there were too many other considerations that led me to reconsider. I thanked him for his time and insight, suggesting we meet before I left Berlin.
Not to be discouraged, I turned to some international friends and put out feelers. Did they know anyone in Berlin who might have some weed? It didn’t take long before I made a connection and feeling confident because people I trusted said they’d met this person in real life, I went ahead and sent a message.
Finding Green in Germany
Before long we were planning to meet up after a busy day of sightseeing with another Canadian friend who had made the trek to Berlin for a week. Resting on a bench from all the walking, waiting for this person to show up, my heart was racing a little. We were in a public place but this felt like my high school days, anxiously waiting for the dealer to show up, hoping that they didn’t take off with my money. This difference being about 30 years and cannabis was legal!
Suddenly my friend elbowed me and directed my attention to a man striding towards us with a big grin on his face. It had to be him otherwise the smile would be unnerving. Turns out it was him. My new friend took a seat beside us on the bench and introduced himself as Raphael. He promptly dug a jar of weed out of his backpack and handed it to me. He refused any money stating that it was good karma to share weed with those in need. I asked if he wanted to join my friends and I for dinner. He agreed and a new friend was made.
Fred invited Julia and I to an intimate dinner party not long after. I had bought more cannabis by then and brought edibles I had made. He shared his weed and proudly showed off the seedlings that were basking in the sun on his balcony. We ate great food and talked with new friends, happy that it was cannabis that brought us together even though not everyone in attendance was a consumer.
What I heard repeatedly was that Berlin wasn’t like the rest of Germany, being considerably more liberal. Even before legalization, the police weren’t too concerned about the consumption of cannabis once it was recognized that the decision had been made to legalize, or so I’d been told.
The Future of European Cannabis is Germany
Germany currently doesn’t have plans to allow dispensaries, instead allowing home grow at 3 plants per person per household and joining grow clubs.
Despite the generous home grow laws, you can only have 50g of dried cannabis in your possession or 25g outside of your home. Edibles are not currently legal. While homegrown is an important personal right, not everyone has the space, time or capacity to grow. But legalization in Germany feels markedly less corporate without all the weed stores. When you grow your own or have someone grow for you it feels more community-based, in the spirit of sharing and celebrating the plant. You give up the ease of access, but access also brings commercialization to the cannabis space, which commoditizes our favorite plant.
Legalization in Germany is rolling out slowly and cautiously unlike in Canada, which felt more like ripping off a bandaid, or in the US where it’s piecemeal. I hope that will give German businesses time to be mindful of how they adapt to the cannabis culture instead of the cannabis culture adopting to business.
Even though there were no stores, there was a huge 420 event at the Brandenburg Gate that I had the privilege to attend. Hundreds of people met to enjoy music and cannabis on the first legal 420 in Germany. I attended another ticketed event later on that day to which Fred invited me.
I started to see other cannabis-friendly events pop up in my social feeds as I found and followed cannabis folks in Germany….half my ads were in German at this point. Cannabis culture is alive and well in Berlin, even if I was on the periphery, but it was there to be found and it was welcoming.
I have no doubt that cannabis will look much different in Germany over the next few years. It will probably become commercial, with big business stepping in to make money at the expense of the legacy growers who long provided for the community. But I hope German leadership finds a way to put people over profit, maintaining the culture and community, enabling the transition of people from legacy to legal and that honors the plant. Time will tell and I hope to go back to find out.