Railway concern Deutsche Bahn banned smoking cannabis at stations, despite the law passed legalizing it in Germany, newspaper reported Bild am Sonntag.
The company will make changes to its internal regulations. “Based on the legal ban on daytime cannabis consumption in pedestrian areas or near schools and playgrounds, we would like to protect passengers, especially children and teenagers, at our stations,”, a Deutsche Bahn spokesman said. This will also apply to smoking areas for regular cigarettes.
Until June 1, offenders will be asked to refrain from smoking cannabis, after which stricter measures will be taken.
A law regulating the storage and cultivation of cannabis came into effect in Germany on April 1, sparking fierce controversy in German society. Under the new rules, German residents over the age of 18 are allowed to possess no more than 25 grams of cannabis on the street for personal use. At home, you are allowed to grow no more than three cannabis bushes or have a maximum of 50g of cannabis for your own use. Now the plant is excluded from the list of prohibited substances. You can now smoke cannabis in public places, but it is prohibited near children, teenagers, as well as near kindergartens, schools, children's and sports grounds, as well as in pedestrian areas during the day.
At the same time, the law provides for measures to prevent addiction to cannabis. The partial legalization of cannabis as early as 2021 was included in the coalition agreement of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, the Greens and the Greens. and the Free Democratic Party. The opposition, the federal government and various organizations opposed the legalization of cannabis, believing that the new rules would have a negative impact on the fight against crime.