Drug use evolved in Germany as a mass phenomenon in the mid sixties. In most of the cases it involved cannabis. Since then it has been characterized by ups and downs with recent signs of a decrease. Hard drug use and drug mortality have followed the general trend with some delay. Variations in drug policy within Germany vis-a-vis cannabis have not shown neither to affect prevalence levels nor attitudes towards cannabis: whether a more repressive or a more liberal approach characterizes the legal system does not matter, as it has also be shown in cross national comparisons.