The exact date Germany will LEGALIZE cannabis will be revealed after the country became the latest to give the drug the green light

SMOKING cannabis in public places will be legal in Germany within weeks after possession for personal use is decriminalized.

The German parliament today approved controversial plans to allow people over 18 to grow, buy and smoke the drug.

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From April 1, it will be legal for adults to buy a maximum of 25 grams hemp per day, or a maximum of 50 grams per month, for recreational use.

Adults can also live up to three years plants each for private consumption – and can join non-profit ‘cannabis clubs’ from 1 July.

Members may grow cannabis plants and distribute the drug to other members of their own club.

There can be a maximum of 500 members per club.

The changes were communicated today GermanyThe House of Commons, the Bundestag – 407 votes against 226 votes – and entail some restrictions.

Adults are not allowed to smoke cannabis within a radius of 100 meters schoolsnurseries, playgrounds and sports fields – or in pedestrian areas between 7am and 8am.

Advertising and sponsorship of cannabis will be banned and dealers caught selling to children could face up to two years in prison.

But many other elements of the new law remains unclear.

The Ministry of Transport has not yet set a limit on the amount of cannabis someone can have in their system the driving.

A team of experts is working on a maximum THC limit that can then be imposed smoking is legalized.

Currently the maximum is one nanogram per milliliter of blood.

Possession of the drug for recreational use is currently illegal in Germany and can be prosecuted.

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, who is initiating the reforms, said that cannabis use among young people has been increasing for years.

He argued that this increase in use and the increase in problems caused by contaminated or over-concentrated batches of cannabis indicated that current German laws had failed and needed to be changed.

Last year he spoke at a press conferenceMr Lauterbach said: “With current procedures we cannot seriously protect children and young people, the subject has been made into a taboo.

“We have rising, problematic consumption, we cannot just let this continue.”

He said the plan was “an important turning point in our drug policy”.

Where is weed legal?

Malta became the first European country to legalize marijuana for recreational use in 2021, after decriminalizing it in 2018.

In a number of countries, including the Netherlands, cannabis has been decriminalized for personal use Portugalthus decriminalizing its use for all drugs in 2001.

Canada legalized cannabis for medicinal purposes in 2001.

But in October 2018 the time came the first G7 country to legalize recreational use of the drug.

Other countries that have legalized recreational use include Georgia, Malta, MexicoSouth Africa, Thailand, and Uruguay.

There are 47 countries worldwide that allow the medical use of marijuana, such as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, FinlandGermany, ItalyJamaica, Mexico and New Zealand.

Some US States have legalized recreational marijuana, while many states only allow it for medicinal use.

Missouri decriminalized cannabis use in February 2023.