From April 1st, cannabis consumption will become legal in Germany – at least partially. This now raises the question in Munich as to what the rules for Oktoberfest could look like. Is it allowed to smoke weed there? And if so: where? The economic department as the organizer does not want to make any concrete statements about this yet. “The effects of the law on events or gastronomy will only be apparent in a few weeks or months,” said a spokesman for the German Press Agency.
A special regulation for the Oktoberfest will – if necessary – be included in the Oktoberfest regulations; this is the responsibility of the district administration committee. Economic speaker and festival director Clemens Baumgärtner (CSU) said Picture-Newspaper: “We first have to take a close look at the law.” He has a bad feeling when he imagines joints being passed around in the pub gardens at Oktoberfest. As a reminder: The CSU under Markus Söder had announced that it wanted to make things as difficult as possible for stoners in Bavaria.
The spokesmen for the Oktoberfest hosts, Peter Inselkammer and Christian Schottenhamel, also did not want to be specific. The decision on partial legalization is still very recent; the topic will be discussed at the next host meeting in mid-April. At this point in time there is no urgent need for action. They want to wait for other large open-air events like the Tollwood first.
Weed has also been smoked at the folk festival before – albeit illegally. Last year, the police counted more than 350 violations of the Narcotics Act during the festival. About half of them involved cannabis, the other half cocaine.