Drug use and drug possession
German law does not define narcotic drug consumption as such as a criminal offence. However, anyone who possesses narcotic drugs for their personal use and does not have a written authorisation for their acquisition, shall be considered to commit an offence pursuant to section 29 subs 1 of the Narcotics Act as shall be anyone who cultivates, produces, acquires, trades in narcotics or otherwise places them on the market without any official authorization. There is a scope of discretion in prosecuting personal use offences that has been further extended since 1992. Since then, the public prosecutor may, on the strength of section 31a of the Narcotics Act, refrain from prosecution even without consent of the court if he/she considers the offender's guilt to be minor, if there is no public interest in the offence and the narcotics were only intended for the offender's own use in small quantities.