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CRIME

How Germany’s next government is planning to legalise cannabis

After weeks of speculation, the parties in talks to form a new government have agreed on plans to legalise recreational weed, reports in the German media have revealed. Here's how they want to go about it.

Woman smoking cannabis
A demonstrator smokes a joint at a 'legalise weed' parade in Berlin. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Annette Riedl

What’s happening?

Since October, the three ‘traffic light’ parties – so called after the party colours of the Social Democrats, Greens and FDP – have been hard at work thrashing out the details of a possible future government in Germany.

According to reports in Spiegel, they’ve now managed to agree on one crucial question: the legalisation of cannabis. 

It was no secret that all three of the parties were in favour of ‘freeing the weed’ ahead of the election. In fact, each of them had envisioned doing so in one form or another in their pre-election manifestos.

Nevertheless, there were clearly different visions on the table on how to do so, with the FDP’s Christian Lindner suggesting in October that prescriptions might be needed to obtain cannabis over the counter at pharmacies.

READ ALSO: Germany should make cannabis available at pharmacies not ‘coffee shops’, says FDP boss

In recent days, however, the coalition’s working group on health and social care has confirmed that the parties have managed to agree on a model for legalisation. The results of the negotiations were detailed in a report obtained by the Funke Media Group.

Are we talking about medical or recreational cannabis?

In this case, the parties are keen on legalising the recreational use of cannabis, which means using it to get high rather than for any medical benefits such as pain relief.

Medical cannabis has been legal in Germany since 2017, but recreational weed smokers have generally had to resort to purchasing it illegally on the black market or smuggling it across the border from the neighbouring Netherlands. 

Will Germany get its own Netherlands-style coffee shops?

Though nothing has been finalised yet, the latest media reports suggest that this is the type of model that Germany is looking to introduce.

“We are introducing the controlled distribution of cannabis to adults for consumption purposes in licensed shops,” the parties wrote in the negotiation paper seen by the Funke Media Group.

That means that cannabis users can purchase weed in specially licensed premises without needing a medical prescription of any kind. 

Amsterdam's red light district
Red Light Bar Coffee Shop in Amsterdam’s Red Light District. Germany looks set to introduce licensed shops to sell weed in a controlled environment – much like in the Netherlands. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Oliver Berg

Opting for a licensed-shop model will allow the government to check the quality and contents of the products being sold – a process known as “drug-checking” – and also introduce measures to combat addiction and prevent underage drug use. 

At the same time, the parties want to tighten up regulations on marketing and sponsoring for alcohol, nicotine and cannabis.

“We always measure regulations against new scientific findings and align health protection measures with them,” the committee states in its report. 

The incoming government plans to conduct a review of the new policy after four years to assess its impact and make improvements. 

Why would politicians want to legalise cannabis? 

It’s no secret that legalising cannabis could be a smart financial decision for cash-strapped governments. According to recent estimates by Justus Haucap for the German Hemp Association, the move could bring in as much as €4.7 billion to the treasury each year.

This sum is largely made up of additional tax revenues, but also includes savings in the judicial system from no longer having to prosecute weed users. 

However, the three traffic-light parties say their motivations aren’t primarily financial. 

Instead, they believe controlled sales of cannabis would dry up the illegal black market and funnel weed through regulated channels, allowing products to be screened for harmful substances and enabling better protection of minors. 

READ ALSO: Why Germany could be on the brink of legalising cannabis

Vocabulary

Controlled distribution – (die) kontrollierte Abgabe

Addiction prevention – (die) Suchtprävention 

Protection of minors – (der) Jugendschutz

Black market – (der) Schwarzmarkt 

We’re aiming to help our readers improve their German by translating vocabulary from some of our news stories. Did you find this article useful? Let us know.

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TERRORISM

How does Germany warn people about the threat of terrorist attacks?

Following the recent terrorist attack in Moscow, France has shifted onto the highest possible alert level for terrorist threats. Why doesn't Germany use a similar system - and how does it alert people instead?

How does Germany warn people about the threat of terrorist attacks?

Since the brutal terrorist attack on a Berlin Christmas Market back in December 2016, fears of Islamist terror seem to have receded into the background – through far-right terror has remained prevalent.

But the recent terror attack on a concert hall in Moscow, which has been attributed to a branch of IS, has heightened fears of a resurgence of Islamist violence.

In contrast to neighbouring countries, Germany doesn’t use a national terror alert system to ‘grade’ the threat of terror – but it does have another system for protecting its population and warning people. 

Here’s what you need to know about Germany’s approach to tracking threats of terrorism. 

How does Germany manage the threat of terror? 

According to the Interior Ministry, rather than relying on a system of color-coded alert levels, German security authorities take a more decentralised approach.

The Federal Criminal Police Office regularly conducts assessments of terrorist threats, which are then shared with the leaders of the federal states. If there’s a significant increase in the overall risk assessment or a specific threat emerges, the government puts “appropriate security measures” in place, the Interior Ministry states.

Unlike centralised systems in countries like France, where national threat levels are analysed and shared with the public, security responsibilities in Germany are largely decentralised, resting with individual states.

Why doesn’t Germany use terror alert levels?

When it comes to using national terror alerts to alert citizens, the Interior Ministry remains sceptical, arguing that the threat level can vary significantly between regions and even within cities.

According to the Ministry, having uniform alert levels nationwide might give the false impression that the danger is uniform everywhere, which would lead to higher levels of panic and uncertainty among citizens. 

READ ALSO: How prepared is Germany in the event of a military attack?

While alert levels could theoretically serve as a means to reach the population, ARD terrorism expert Michael Götschenberg points out that their effectiveness diminishes over time. People tend to become desensitised to frequent high alert levels, which causes people to ‘switch off’ and ultimately ignore potential threats.

Mourner at Breitscheidplatz in Berlin

A man stands in front of the memorial to the victims of the Islamist terrorist attack on Breitscheidplatz in December 2026. The Christmas Market attack was the last major Islamist attack in Germany. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Christoph Soeder

One of the main factors that renders colour-coded alerts less useful is the fact that “the levels are not linked to specific rules of behaviour for the population”, Götschenberg told Tagesschau.

Austria, for example, raised its alert level last November but emphasised that the public didn’t need to alter their behaviour in any way. This reflects authorities’ belief that the best way to fight terrorism is for the population to show resilience and refuse to give into fear.

How high is the threat of terror attacks in Germany?

In the aftermath of the terrorist attack in Moscow, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) has described the current threat of Islamist terror as “acute”.

However, the attack has not significantly changed the authorities’ perceptions of the situation. In fact, the threat was defined as acute before the latest attacks and remains so afterwards.

Several other countries, including the UK and the US, have already put out warnings for potential terrorist attacks to citizens who are considering travelling to Germany. In the UK, for example, the government cites recent attacks such as the shootings in Hanau shisha bars back in 2020 and the knife attack in Dresden the same year.

“Terrorists are very likely to try and carry out attacks in Germany,” states the official government advice, which adds that restaurants, markets, shopping centres and places of worship could be chosen for potential attacks. 

So, how will the public be warned if a plans for a specific attack become known? As well as offering general information about terrorist threat levels, the government will also release specifics that it feels are necessary for the public safety.

For example, when the authorities suspected an attack was being planned in the area around Cologne cathedral ahead of Christmas last year, warnings were sent out to residents of the city. 

On Tuesday, Faeser also revealed that she would put additional border controls in place during the European Football Championships in June and July this year. 

READ ALSO: Germany announces border controls for European Football Championship

The focus will be on protecting the country from Islamists, political extremists and other violent criminals during the competition.

“We are keeping an eye on the current threats,” Faeser told the regional Rheinische Post. 

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