Bavaria cracks down

Bavaria bans smoking weed at folk festivals

Beer instead of joints: party atmosphere at the Oktoberfest

(Bild: ANDREAS GEBERT / EPA / picturedesk.com)

Beer will continue to be the dominant drug in Bavaria, as it was decided on Tuesday: smoking weed at folk festivals and in beer gardens will be completely banned, as well as in the English Garden in Munich.

In addition, local authorities are to be given the option of banning cannabis consumption in certain areas, such as outdoor swimming pools and leisure parks. This was announced by CSU MP Judith Gerlach after a cabinet meeting in Munich.

"Our aim is to limit cannabis consumption in public. This is important for health protection - and especially for the protection of children and young people," she said. This would create "clear conditions despite a completely botched law by the Federal Minister of Health". In the end, Bavaria was unable to prevent the nationwide partial legalization of cannabis on 1 April, despite long and fierce resistance.

Cannabis will not compete with beer at the Oktoberfest.

(Bild: APA/dpa/Tobias Hase)

Smoking pot banned on the entire Wiesn grounds
Among other things, however, smoking weed will now be completely banned in Bavaria at public festivals, above all at the Wiesn, on the entire grounds. The aim is to create clear and comprehensible rules that can be implemented by organizers and police, Gerlach emphasized.

According to the Federal Cannabis Act, smoking weed is prohibited in the immediate presence of minors, among other things - which effectively means a ban on public festivals, at least during the day, because children and young people are regularly present there. Nevertheless, funfair operators and showmen had complained about a loophole in the regulations.

Will there even be a ban in smoking areas?
In Bavaria, cannabis products are also to be covered by the legal smoking ban, which already applies indoors in public buildings, restaurants and cultural and leisure facilities, among others. In addition, the Bavarian government wants to ban smoking weed even in designated smoking rooms and smoking areas - and above all in outdoor areas of restaurants and cafés as well as in beer gardens. In addition to burning, the ban is also to apply to heating and vaporizing cannabis products.