Berlin

Law Enforcement

Smoking out of sight drew little attention in the Berlin I knew. Even outside, the attitude was often, “Don’t make a big deal out of it and you’ll be fine.” For the legal overview, see Marijuana Laws.

Where to Buy Marijuana

Behind Café Zapata on Oranienburger Straße, around 9:45 or later, you could come across some crazy buds.

At Kottbusser U-Bahn station: “Just look around and ask. I got a nice bar of hash for €10 and was trying to smoke all of it for six days!”

Near Warschauer Straße

“Exit the station and go right on Warschauer Straße, then right again on Revaler Straße. Take the second entrance along the wall on your right. Just inside, on the left, is a bar and lounge. If you see black people and possibly a ping-pong table, you’re in the right place. Ask for a drink first; you don’t want to look suspicious.

“Otherwise, you can go to most parks and ask whether anyone can help. People are very friendly in Berlin!

“If you’re in Berlin and want some really dope stuff, take the S-Bahn to Schlachtensee. When the sun is out, you’ll find dozens of smokers. There’s a large patch of grass by the lake, opposite the station, full of people sitting in the sun and toking away.”

Marijuana Prices

“20 for a big chunk of hash, or 30 for two grams of the bomb!” Other prices in euros at the time:

• Usually €5–7 per gram.
• About €5 per gram for amounts above 10 grams.
• About €4 per gram for amounts above 50 grams.

There was a bit of everything, from grass to hashish, and the grass was pretty good for the price.

More Information

“Just don’t go parading around with a backpack full of ganja. Besides, there’s the Hemp Parade for that. Enjoy!”

Berlin figures from the period: 889 km², about 3.45 million residents, Germany, Central European Time (GMT/UTC+1), area code 30.

Berlin has lived through two world wars and the euphoria of watching the Wall come down.

It may have been more mellow in 500 BC. An urn reportedly found near the city with cannabis leaves and seeds suggests Berliners are carrying on a very old tradition.

“Three to eight million people in Germany smoke cannabis more or less regularly,” freelance journalist Volker Wartmann estimated. “Everybody gets it. They get it on the black market or wherever.” He called personal possession of two or three grams “kind of half-legal,” a description from before the later reforms.

Much of the pot and hash was said to come from the Netherlands or Morocco. Weed was €5–7 a gram, around US$6–8 then, and hash €6–8, about US$7–9. “Never been so deep with so few hits,” went one verdict. Then again, “quality changes with every deal.”

Kottbusser Tor in Kreuzberg and Bahnhof Zoo could feel sketchy, and some visitors avoided the S-Bahn late at night. The other side of that €10 bar story: “Never buy anything that is offered to you in the streets. The best thing that can happen to you is that you just lose your money.”

People already smoking a joint might know somebody or share some homegrown skunk. Turkish cafés came up, too. Jo liked Zapata im Tacheles, Oranienburger Straße 54: “Tacheles represents Berlin and everything its vibe and atmosphere stand for. The best vibe is the pot-smoking campfires in the junkyard.”

After a smoke: raging clubs, drag shows or a mellow pub with German beer. Turn was a hemp-flavored brew with a blue marijuana leaf on the label, sold in some 80 Berlin pubs at the time.

Germany is famous for its beer festivals. Berlin had the Love Parade and the Hemp Parade. American traveler Patri remembers:

“Germans plan their Love Parade outfits for months. There were zillions of spiked, colored hairdos, piercings, and scantily clad women—even a few topless. The parade itself was all these floats: semis rigged with audio equipment, blasting techno, with people dancing on them.”

At the end of summer the Hemp Parade drew tens of thousands past Berlin landmarks to a rally with bands, speakers, hemp goods and smoking paraphernalia. Legalization was the goal.

Back then, Green Party leader and foreign minister Joschka Fischer was rumored to have been a pothead in his younger days, though he never confirmed it. Chancellor Gerhard Schröder shifted the drugs commissioner from the Interior Ministry to the Health Ministry, moving the job away from its policing focus.

“Consumers of drugs are not criminals and should be exempt from criminal prosecution,” said commissioner Christa Nickels. At the time, NORML distinguished use from acquisition and quoted one month to four years and a fine for acquisition, while noting that courts often waived prosecution for personal use. A 1994 court ruling was seen as pushing back on cannabis prohibitions even though cannabis remained listed in criminal legislation.

Hemp Parade organizer Martin Muencheberg was confident the legislation would eventually change: “I think it’s just a question of time before it’s legalized.”