Berlin’s “premier smoking lounge” shares a street with high-end wine bars and designer clothing stores. The faceless entrance of Tribe gives nothing away about the stylish interior upstairs, where guests sink into emerald velvet couches, deep in conversation.

“Our vision from the beginning was to create something unique, that was not the typical stoner cliche,” Tribe founder Stefan Röhrl, who ran clubs in Barcelona and Ibiza before returning to Germany, told Filter. “I wanted to create somewhere that my wife and I can go and feel comfortable. Where you can go after dinner for drinks, but still enjoy cannabis.”

On April 1 2024, after the government passed the Cannabisgesetz (Cannabis Act), Germany became one of the first European countries to introduce a form of legalization for adult use.

The law decriminalized possession of up to 25 grams of cannabis in public and 50g at home for over-18s, as well as permitting home cultivation of up to three plants and the establishment of nonprofit cannabis associations, for up to 500 members to grow it collectively.

Phase 2 of the bill, providing for a pilot program of limited commercial sales, hit a stumbling block when the former coalition government collapsed in November.

Tribe is not one of these associations. Instead, it operates under what Röhrl describes as “workarounds”—tapping into existing regulations such as medical cannabis laws and state smoking permits to allow people to bring their own cannabis to consume on site, until a framework for full legalization is introduced.

However, Phase 2 of the bill, providing for a pilot program of limited commercial sales under scientific monitoring—seen by many as a test case for wider reform across Europe—hit a stumbling block when the former coalition government collapsed in November, plunging the country into political uncertainty.

National elections in February resulted in a new government, led by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian counterpart, the Christian Social Union (CSU), in coalition with the center-left Social Democratic Party (SDP). Representatives of the center-right CDU/CSU, appointed as drug commissioner, minister of health and minister of food and agriculture, are now primarily responsible for implementing Phase 2.

Approvals of cannabis association licenses slowed significantly following the change in government, with just over 200 permits issued out of over 600 applications. Strict regulations on how associations can operate, such as limits on numbers of members and paid employees, also create financial and logistical challenges. It can cost anything from €100,000 to €1 million to launch an association, with many reliant on external investment and two already declaring bankruptcy.

“Most like to consume with other people, and if you don’t create a space for the people to do that, then they still have to do it in hiding.”

“The lawmakers have set up a system in which they don’t want cannabis clubs to behave economically,” Frederik Blockslaff, a lawyer who has helped 26 associations obtain licences, told Filter. “But you have to—if you want production for 500 people, plus all of the lighting and technology, it’s an investment of around €300,000. You have to rely on investors, and they are always going to want to see a return on their investment.”

Associations must be located at least 100 meters from any public place frequented by under-18s, and consumption is strictly prohibited on site. According to Blockslaff, this limits the effectiveness of strategies to reduce problematic use.

“The government wants you to get your stuff and go away; there is basically no interaction,” he said. “You can have flyers and remind members of the rules, but you can’t address it properly because they aren’t allowed to smoke inside.”

For many consumers, cannabis represents community, so this “anti-social” club model has led them to find workarounds to preserve that.

“Cannabis is a social thing,” Röhrl said. “Most like to consume with other people, and if you don’t create a space for the people to do that, then they still have to do it in hiding.”

“Places like [Tribe] are necessary to create a safe space for consumption, for social interactivity,” he added. In Spain, which has its own cannabis social club model, “the social part of it was very important, so it’s a shame that the German model has excluded that.”

Stefan Röhrl 

Blum Cannabis Association in Berlin is yet to produce its first harvest, but is already building a thriving community by hosting events at other venues across the city, with a waiting list of 2,600.

“It’s more than a [cannabis] club, it’s creating a certain type of lifestyle,” co-founder Zoe Killing told Filter. “What we are aiming to create is a place for everyone, where everyone feels represented. Even people who wouldn’t necessarily think that it would be a place for them, we want them to feel welcome.”

One year on, legal sales are still only estimated to account for around 6 percent of the total cannabis market.

Tia, a member, said she has made more meaningful connections and felt more comfortable at Blum’s events than she would on a typical night out in Berlin.

“It’s bigger than just meeting up and getting high, it’s the whole culture around it,” she told Filter. “As cliche as it sounds, you do tend to get deeper …  the relationships feel a lot more genuine.”

“The feedback I get from women [at Blum events] is that they feel safe in these spaces, too,” Tia added.

One year on, with associations slow to get started, legal sales are still only estimated to account for around 6 percent of the total German cannabis market, according to analysis by Whitney Economics. But prescriptions are plugging some of the gap. In August 2024, new regulations made it easier to access medical cannabis; 21 medical specialisms are now eligible to issue prescriptions, without the need for prior approval from insurance providers.

Telemedicine clinics have made it possible to order a prescription online in less than 30 seconds, without the need for a consultation, and will deliver it within an hour via Uber Eats. As a result, the number of people obtaining prescriptions has risen dramatically. It’s expected to reach 4 million over the next four years, representing around €2 billion in annual sales.

The government has said it will carry out a re-evaluation of the legalization law later in 2025, prompting speculation that it could try to backtrack.

Tribe caters to people who obtain their cannabis either way.

“Clients bring their own cannabis to consume, either from their medical prescription or their club-grown product,” Röhrl explained. “We additionally have developed a telemedicine platform that allows people to receive their prescription directly at the lounge.”

Right-leaning politicians have been vocal about their opposition to the current state of play. Christin Christ, the CDU health representative in Hamburg, recently called it a “cardinal mistake,” while Nina Warken, the new federal health minister, says she wants to “restrict the easily accessible online prescriptions.”

The government has said it will carry out a re-evaluation of the legalization law later in 2025, prompting speculation that it could try to backtrack on the removal of cannabis from Germany’s list of “narcotics.”

Peter Homberg, a regulatory expert at the law firm Gunnercooke, has predicted that a “complete reversal” of the law is “unlikely,” but that the review could see amendments such as a reduction in the cannabis possession threshold, and/or adjustments to tighten medical regulations. 

“Decriminalization is working. Enforcement resources have shifted, arrest rates are down and the sky hasn’t fallen.” 

“What we’re seeing right now is a political recalibration, not a rollback,” Jamie Pearson, founder of New Holland Group, a consultancy with clients in the cannabis space, told Filter. “The CDU has always voiced caution on cannabis, but a full reversal is politically and socially improbable. The data coming in from Phase 1 is clear: Decriminalization is working. Enforcement resources have shifted, arrest rates are down and the sky hasn’t fallen.” 

According to an editorial published by Der Spiegel, ​​”approximately 100,000 criminal proceedings have been avoided” since the law change. Following the publication of the latest crime statistics earlier in 2025, media have reported that cannabis-related arrests fell by 56 percent in Bavaria. Reports from North Rhine-Westphalia, a region that has issued a high number of association licenses, say legalization has “significantly” reduced pressures on police.

Many police officers have welcomed legalization, according to Tobias Peach, a cannabis activist from Freiburg. Meanwhile, decriminalization and home cultivation are changing public perceptions.

“The stigma is still there, but it is reducing,” Peach told Filter. “People who wouldn’t have done it before have started growing as a hobby. They share their plants with their family and put them on social media. They talk about it more, so it becomes more normalized and not such a taboo.”

Tobias Peach

However, with the Interior Ministry claiming that there is “no evidence that partial legalization has curbed the illegal market or reduced demand in any way,” pilot commercial sales could be crucial to building an evidence base to support wider regulation across Europe.

Pilots with scientific evaluation, like those being conducted in Switzerland and the Netherlands, also offer a potential way around international laws, such as the UN single convention, which prohibit commercial cannabis sales.

“Germany has the chance to lead—but only if legislators follow the facts, not the fear.”

“Pilot programs should answer the critical questions that politicians ask,” Daniel S. Hübner, senior science manager for the Cannabis Research Lab at the Humboldt University of Berlin, said at a cannabis industry conference in Berlin. “Now we have a new CDU Ministry of Health, we need really good data for continuing this direction of travel … We want to show how having open sales can help harm reduction and help people use cannabis with fewer problems.”

Some have suggested the government could approve Phase 2 in exchange for a ban on home growing; others expect that without the political impetus to see it through, it will simply fall by the wayside.

One thing most agree on, though, is that whatever amendments the autumn evaluation brings, the cannabis-reform genie is out of the bottle.

“What Germany needs now is political will and evidence-based policy to move forward with the pilot programs,” Pearson said. “If we let short-term political turbulence derail long-term structural reform, we’ll miss the chance to create a new regulatory model for Europe. The truth is, the illicit market isn’t waiting, and neither are consumers. Germany has the chance to lead—but only if legislators follow the facts, not the fear.”

Photographs of Tribe interior and Stefan Röhrl by Sarah Sinclair. Photograph of Tobias Peach courtesy of Peach.