A proposal from two German parliamentarians about a relaxed stance on cannabis has been met with criticism. Germany's drug commissioner said the country has enough problems with alcohol and tobacco.

In an interview with the "Passauer Neue Presse" newspaper on Thursday, Germany's federal drug commissioner, Marlene Mortler, said a proposal from a fellow member of the CDU/CSU party aboutdecriminalizing cannabis was not a good idea.

Munich will continue to participate in the discussion of the so-called "Initiative of German cities" concerning the establishment of cannabis clubs. However, there will initially be no pilot project for the partial release of cannabis.

A pilot project currently lacked the legal requirements, the information from the Department of Health and Environment (RGU). A partial release is only possible if it is in the public or scientific interest. But because the boundaries are narrow, the city lacked the opportunity, the RGU.

The CDU, a staunchly conservative party and the leading political party in Germany may have come around to the idea of legalizing and regulating the cannabis market in Germany. In a surprising union they issued a joint statement on cannabis via the news channel ARD. An unexpected move considering the two parties generally don't agree much on ideas.

The spokesman on economic policy for the Christian Democratic Union Joachim Pfeiffer, and Dieter Janecek of the Green Party in Germany issued a statement declaring that they believe criminalization no longer makes sense. Every year between 1-2 billion euros are spent on prosecuting cannabis consumers.  If legalized and taxed the government could make 2 billion euros a year from the taxes on cannabis.

A pair of German politicians - one conservative, one green - is promoting legalizing marijuana. One of the arguments is the potential for a tax windfall.

In a policy proposal for parliament which was obtained by German public broadcaster ARD on Wednesday, Christian Democrat Joachim Pfeiffer and Green party member Dieter Janecek put forward their plan for the liberalization of cannabis products, questioning whether making criminals out of people for posession and purchase of the drug for recreational purposes made sense.

"Each year we spend between one and two billion euros on prosecuting [cannabis] consumers, although it's really the criminal sector which we should be focusing our efforts on," the Bundestag members said.

The discovery of 700 marijuana plants is just the latest in an ongoing saga in and around Kreuzberg’s Görlitzer Park.

There’s something special about the illegal Berlin cannabis plantation uncovered Monday. The 700 plants the city’s police just discovered were not hidden away in some attic, but growing outside at one of the busiest intersections in all of Berlin.

Police discovered the young plants—already reaching up to 15 inches high—on a green patch at Kottbusser Tor in the Kreuzberg neighborhood. Hiding in plain sight (though apparently not that well), they were growing next to a packed subway station, apparently overlooked by both a daily market and an ever-present crowd of street drinkers.

Smoking marijuana can lead to more than a euphoric high, and has been linked to long-lasting delusions, mouth swelling and several other surprising effects, according to a new review of research on the recreational use of the drug.

"All recreational users should be aware of potential undesired acute cannabinoid effects," or the effects of being high on pot, study author Dr. Eva Hoch, of the department of addictive behavior and addiction medicine at the University of Heidelberg in Germany, told Live Science. The type and severity of these effects depend on many factors, such as the composition of the cannabis, how often someone uses marijuana, the user's disposition and how much they smoke, Hoch said.

BERLIN — It wasn’t the world’s best-hidden marijuana plantation.

Berlin police say they were were called to a subway station Monday morning by a street cleaner who reported finding “numerous small plants that seemed suspicious to him.”

Officers found 700 small cannabis plants growing among weeds on a traffic island outside the Kottbusser Tor station in the capital’s Kreuzberg district. They pulled up the plants.

It wasn’t immediately clear who planted the cannabis but police are investigating.

Buchkirchen, 04/05/2015. The Anmathe Beteiligungs AG has been able to reach an agreement with the US company Quality Products Distribution LLC (short QPD). QPD develops and manufactures under the brand label Accuvape (www.accuvape.net) very successful vaporizers and associated products that are increasingly common in the United States. In these devices active compound concentrates are vaporized and so there is unanimous opinionthey represent a healthier alternative to the traditional smoking.

Worldwide the "Global Marijuana March" traditionally takes place on the first Saturday in May, but many cities have events going on all month long. Here's a rundown.

May 9th

Germany

On Saturday, 05/09/2015, on the hill is the Germany-wide "Hanftag" held as part of the Global Marijuana March.

Hanfttag in Central Park
Because the march this year so close to the May 1 holiday, the organizers of hemp day in some of the 27 participating German cities, including Hamburg, opted for a different date. But not only the date has changed this year, but also the venue: This year does not find the international Hanftag in Schanzenpark but the Beach Club Central Park instead.

Meanwhile tough new policy orders policemen to detain all users and dealers caught in known drug-dealing park

Imagine this: a young man walks into a coffee shop, shows his ID and ask to buy five grams of cannabis. No one calls the police. Instead, the clerk answers with a smile: "No problem! But before you pay, why don't you follow me to the next room? Let's chat about the possible consequences of drug use." Simple, safe and educational - many see this as the future of drug deals in Germany.

Yet the road to legalization is still paved with obstacles, even in party-loving Berlin.