This tiny detail makes the difference why employer-mandated drug tests are not a thing in Germany like it is in the US.
It doesn't explain the difference, no, since the same is true about the US. In most states, consumption of most drugs is not a crime - possession, production, distribution, sale, and trafficking are the actual crimes prosecuted.
So sure, the act of consuming might be legal, but having consumed isn’t.
Isn't that limited to public spaces? If you're getting high in private you should be fine?
This is a weak argument. Almost nobody is getting prosecuted for "disorderly conduct" when under the influence of marijuana as a proxy for marijuana consumption. And even if they were, the connection between that and employer drug tests is extremely tenuous.
The likelihood of getting charged with a drug-related crime for testing positive for drugs on an employer-mandated drug test, which is the context being discussed, is absolutely minuscule.
You may get fired, but your employer isn't going to refer you to local prosecution, and the prosecution wouldn't take it if they did.
The title of this post is " Smoking cannabis is now legal in Germany".
I assume that Germany does drug testing for safety-related roles? Crane operators, pilots, nuclear plant operators?
It would be wild if they don't.
And for good reason. That would be an entirely unproportional encroachment on privacy and personal rights, irrespective of whether the test turns out positive or negative.
A drug test may be legal, or suggested, when there is reasonable suspicion someone was high during work hours. Maybe air traffic controllers and similar professions need to be evidently clean. Otherwise I don't think drug tests are legal in Germany. Even asking about consumption is illegal in most cases.
kinda obscure example. i expect most operators of heavy machinery, human transportation devices and some security professions to require some verification of abstinence. i was tested once in order to get the required permit to drive a van with elderly and disabled ppl for the red cross.
Not really. The business of employer-mandated drug testing in the EU is generally tricky, and employees enjoy wide ranging protections. Most countries only allow drug testing where there is a certain aspect of risk, and in most of those case, only a physician can perform the test, and cannot share findings, only declare the subject as fit for duties or not.
In Germany, specifically, a pre-employment test but a physician is allowed, and when employed only rarely and for very specific circumstances.