Germany

Since 1 April 2024 an adult in Germany may carry up to 25 grams of cannabis away from home and keep up to 50 grams at their residence. Between 25 and 30 grams in public, or 50 and 60 grams at home, is an administrative offence under § 36 — and because § 36 sets its own maximum, that offence reaches €30,000 rather than the €1,000 default that applies to German administrative fines generally. Above 30 grams in public or 60 grams in total the regime changes entirely: § 34 makes it a criminal offence carrying up to three years' imprisonment or a criminal fine. There is no federal tariff table for the administrative band, so the €30,000 is a ceiling the authority may reach and not a figure anyone should expect.

The dangerous number is not 25 grams, it is 30. Between the two you face an administrative fine; past it you are in the criminal code, and a tourist has no German address to keep the higher home allowance at.

Legal to possess does not mean legal to smoke where you like, and this is where a visitor is far more likely to be caught than on the quantity. § 5 prohibits consumption in the immediate presence of anyone under 18; within sight and under 100 metres of the entrance to a school, playground, children's or youth facility, public sports facility or cultivation association; in pedestrian zones between 07:00 and 20:00; and in Bundeswehr military areas. The pedestrian-zone window is the trap, because it covers the shopping streets of every German city centre for the whole of the working day.

In a city centre the rule is effectively: not in the pedestrian zone before 8pm, and never within sight of a school or playground. The 100-metre radius is measured from the entrance and it catches more of a German old town than it sounds.

The increased fare is set federally, not by each city: on trams and buses an operator may charge up to €60, and on the railway it is twice the ordinary fare for the distance with €60 as the floor, so a long journey costs more. Inspectors work in plain clothes and check between stations. Having bought a ticket is not enough — you have to be able to produce it. The one exception is if there was no counter or machine at your departure station.

Buy before you board and keep the ticket where you can reach it. Where stamping is required, the unstamped ticket counts as no ticket.

Germans wait, and the reason is not only culture: crossing against a red pedestrian light is an offence, at €5 as a warning penalty and €10 where it endangers someone. The amount is trivial and the enforcement is mostly social, but it is real, it applies nationwide at the same rate, and if you are hit while crossing on red your insurance position changes.

Wait for the green man even on an empty street, especially with children around. The look you get for not waiting costs more than the €5.