As a patient with cannabis on prescription you are in principle allowed to drive, because the medication privilege (German Road Traffic Act, StVG) protects you. But in a police check, with a letter from the driving licence authority or an order for a medical-psychological assessment (MPU), deadlines and wording count. Our specialised legal experts assess your case by video so that you know what to do.
Initial legal assessment by video. Provided by independent, specialised legal experts.
Most proceedings against cannabis patients begin unspectacularly: with a check or with a letter. What you do or fail to do in the first few days sets the course for everything that follows.
A rapid test also reacts when you take your medication as directed. What you say in this situation and what you do not say often determines how things develop. A report to the driving licence authority frequently follows, sometimes criminal proceedings.
The authority requests a statement or a medical expert report (Section 11 FeV, German Driving Licence Regulation) and sets a deadline. If you do not respond, or respond incorrectly, the authority may conclude that you are not fit to drive and withdraw your driving licence.
With cannabis patients the authority has to follow a staged procedure, as a rule starting with a medical expert report (Section 14 FeV). Not every MPU order is lawful. Whether yours can be challenged is shown by a legal look at the individual case.
Prescriptions based purely on online questionnaires are frequently not accepted by authorities and courts as a basis for the medication privilege. Now your therapy documentation and the right line of argument are what count.
An early initial assessment costs less than any mistake in the proceedings.
The good news first: cannabis on prescription and driving are not mutually exclusive. What matters is that the conditions are met and that you know where the limits lie.
The medication privilege (Section 24a (4) StVG) makes it clear: if your THC level results from taking a medicine prescribed by a doctor as directed, no administrative offence is committed, even above the general limit.
Here a general ban on cannabis at the wheel applies (Section 24c StVG). There is an exception for patients too, but the assessment is particularly delicate and should be clarified medically and legally in advance.
An absolute ban on alcohol at the wheel applies to all cannabis patients. Combined use with other substances voids the medication privilege and is one of the most common routes to an MPU.
However: in practice some driving licence authorities treat regular cannabis use despite a prescription as grounds for doubting fitness to drive (Annex 4 FeV) and request a medical expert report. In doing so the authority sets a deadline that you should definitely keep to: if you do not respond, or do not respond in time, it may conclude that you are not fit to drive and withdraw your driving licence. Whether the order is lawful and how best to respond should be checked legally before the deadline expires. This is exactly the point where a therapy turns into proceedings, and a question turns into a deadline.
The most important legal points on cannabis on prescription and driving, briefly summarised.
Section 24a StVG governs administrative offences when driving under the influence of drugs. Subsection 1a sets the general THC limit above which a fine may be imposed. Subsection 4 contains the medication privilege: if your THC level results from taking a medicine prescribed by a doctor as directed, no administrative offence is committed.
Since August 2024 a general THC limit of 3.5 ng/ml blood serum has applied to non-patients, above which a fine of 500 euros is generally imposed. This limit does not apply to patients who take their medication as directed, where the medication privilege applies. If you are actually unfit to drive, however, criminal law (Section 316 StGB) remains applicable regardless of the limit.
If an authority doubts your fitness to drive, the route as a rule leads first through a medical expert report, and only after that does an MPU come into question in certain cases. The authority sets a deadline within which you have to respond. An order is not automatically lawful, every individual case deserves a legal review before the deadline expires.
A cannabis patient ID card can make a check easier, but it is no substitute for legal protection.
The Cureal patient ID card is a medical certificate that Cureal issues to patients using medical cannabis. It documents your medically prescribed therapy and can help to make your situation understandable during a check. You will find more on this on the page Certificates.
What matters is the limit of this certificate: the patient ID card evidences your therapy, but it does not replace an assessment of your fitness to drive or a legal assessment of the individual case. Whether you are actually fit to drive at the moment of a check is unaffected by it.
In a police check or with a letter from the driving licence authority, the patient ID card is therefore a helpful element, not a substitute for the initial legal assessment that you can book through this page.
As a patient you are allowed at the wheel. Make sure it stays that way.
Between the medication privilege, the Driving Licence Regulation and the way authorities work in practice lies exactly the grey area in which patients make mistakes: they answer the authority too quickly, too late or with the wrong words. They go into an expert assessment unprepared. Or they ignore a letter because they feel they are in the right.
The initial legal assessment steps in before these mistakes happen. A legal expert specialising in traffic and cannabis law looks at your situation, checks letters and deadlines and tells you clearly which steps make sense now and which you should refrain from.
The consultation takes place by video, anywhere in Germany and without a visit to a law firm. You book a preferred appointment online, just as you book a doctor's appointment at Cureal.
If your case needs more after that, for example representation before the authority or in proceedings, you discuss the next steps and the terms directly with the legal expert.
Video appointment with a specialised legal expert
The advice is provided by independent, specialised legal experts. Cureal organises appointment booking and administration and does not itself provide legal services.
You choose a preferred appointment and book the legal consultation conveniently online, just like a doctor's appointment at Cureal.
Prescription, therapy documents and all letters from the police or the authority, including deadlines. The more complete they are, the more specific the assessment.
You discuss your case, receive a clear assessment and afterwards know which steps are due now and which mistakes to avoid.
The advice is provided by two independent legal experts who offer their services through Cureal. Both specialise in the interface between road traffic law and medical cannabis.
Your contact for everything that comes from the police and the driving licence authority: checks, hearings, orders for expert reports, MPUs and withdrawal proceedings.
Your contact for the legal position around medical cannabis: recognition of your prescription, questions of documentation and the line of argument towards authorities.
We will introduce the personal profiles of our legal experts here shortly.
Your strongest position in any proceedings is cleanly documented therapy for your cannabis on prescription. That is exactly what you get at Cureal: real doctors at our locations across Germany, no anonymous questionnaires.
Yes, in principle. The medication privilege (Section 24a (4) StVG) protects patients whose THC level results from taking a medicine prescribed by a doctor as directed. The condition is medically supervised, documented therapy, and that you are not actually unfit to drive. Special rules apply to drivers under 21 and during the probationary period, and an absolute ban on alcohol at the wheel applies as well.
The medication privilege in Section 24a (4) StVG states: if your THC level exceeds the general limit of 3.5 ng/ml blood serum, no administrative offence is committed provided the level results from taking a medicine as directed that was prescribed for a specific medical condition.
It does not protect you, however, if you are actually unfit to drive, if your driving is conspicuous or in cases of combined use with other substances. Criminal law (Section 316 StGB) and measures under driving licence law then apply regardless of the prescription.
A rapid test can come out positive even when you take your medication as directed. You do not have to disclose your therapy unasked. If you are asked directly, show your prescription and your medical certificate.
The police frequently report the incident to the driving licence authority anyway, which can then open proceedings to examine your fitness to drive. At the latest when a letter arrives from the authority, an initial legal assessment is worthwhile.
Take the letter seriously and observe the deadline set. If you do not respond, or do not respond in time, the authority may conclude that you are not fit to drive and withdraw your driving licence.
Whether the order is lawful at all, which questions the expert report may clarify and how best to respond should be checked legally before the deadline expires. That is exactly what the initial assessment is for.
With cannabis patients the authority may not order an MPU across the board. The route provided for leads as a rule first through a medical expert report. An MPU comes into consideration in particular where there are indications of misuse, combined use with other substances, earlier illegal use or conspicuous behaviour in road traffic.
Not every order is lawful. Whether yours can be challenged and how it makes sense for you to behave is clarified by a look at the individual case.
This is exactly where a major risk lies: authorities and courts frequently do not accept prescriptions issued without real contact with a doctor, purely on the basis of an online form, as a basis for the medication privilege. What is decisive is an individual diagnosis, a specific dosage instruction and documented medical supervision.
That is why at Cureal you always speak to a real doctor, at the practice or by video, and your therapy is documented completely.
You receive an initial legal assessment of your case by video: a review of your situation and of any letters from authorities, an assessment of deadlines and of orders for expert reports and MPUs, plus a clear recommendation for your next steps.
The advice is provided by independent, specialised legal experts. Cureal organises appointment booking and administration. If your case needs representation going further than this, you arrange that directly with the legal expert.
Your current prescription, documents on your therapy (diagnosis, dosage, course of therapy), all letters from the police or the driving licence authority including dates and deadlines, plus a short chronology of events. The more complete your documents, the more specific the legal expert can assess your case.
Initial legal assessment by video for €199, from specialised legal experts. And if you do not have cannabis therapy yet: in the initial medical consultation we clarify whether therapy is an option for you.