one year on, German cannabis legalization has uncertain future

Berlin’s “premier smoking lounge” shares a street with high-end wine bars and designer clothing stores. The faceless entrance of Tribe gives nothing away about the stylish interior upstairs, where guests sink into emerald velvet couches, deep in conversation.

“Our vision from the beginning was to create something unique, that was not the typical stoner cliche,” Tribe founder Stefan Röhrl, who ran clubs in Barcelona and Ibiza before returning to Germany, told Filter. “I wanted to create somewhere that my wife and I can go and feel comfortable. Where you can go after dinner for drinks, but still enjoy cannabis.”

On April 1 2024, after the government passed the Cannabisgesetz (Cannabis Act), Germany became one of the first European countries to introduce a form of legalization for adult use.

The law decriminalized possession of up to 25 grams of cannabis in public and 50g at home for over-18s, as well as permitting home cultivation of up to three plants and the establishment of nonprofit cannabis associations, for up to 500 members to grow it collectively.