Germany plans to legalise marijuana despite its challenges

The German government will decide whether to make it legal for people to use cannabis for fun.

If the members of Parliament agree, people over 18 in Germany can have a lot of cannabis, but it will be hard to buy because there will be strict rules.

From 1 April, it will be legal to smoke cannabis in many public places.

You can have up to 25g (almost an ounce) of something in public and 50g in your home.

In some parts of Germany, like Berlin, the police ignore people who smoke in public even though it’s against the law and they could get in trouble for it. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach says more and more young people are using drugs, even though it’s against the law. He wants to change the law to stop this.

He wants to stop illegal selling, keep people safe from bad drugs, and stop criminals from making money.

However, there will not be lots of legal cannabis cafes opening up everywhere right away.

A big argument about making cannabis legal has been happening in Germany for a long time. Doctors worry about young people and some conservative people think that making the laws less strict will make more people use drugs.

Like many times in Germany, the new law that the MPs are going to vote on is hard to understand.

Using marijuana near schools and sports grounds will still be against the law in some places. Importantly, the government will closely control the market to make it difficult to buy the drug.

The idea to let shops and pharmacies sell cannabis has been dropped because the EU is worried it could cause more drugs to be sent to other countries.

Instead, groups of people that are not trying to make money, called “cannabis social clubs”, will be allowed to grow and give out a small amount of the drug.

Each club can only have up to 500 members. People can’t smoke or use marijuana at the club. Only people who live in Germany can join the club.

You can grow up to three marijuana plants at home.

This means that in Germany, people can have a lot of drugs, but it’s hard to buy them. For example, having 25g of drugs is like having a lot of strong joints.

People who smoke a lot would be happy, but people who only smoke sometimes would have a hard time buying it legally and visitors wouldn’t be allowed to buy it. Critics say this will just make the illegal market for goods grow.

In the next few years, the government will study how the new law affects things, and might start selling cannabis legally.

However, because the debate has been difficult, we cannot be certain about anything.

On the other hand, the conservative opposition says that if they win the election next year, they will get rid of the law completely. Germany probably won’t become the new Amsterdam in Europe for a while.