5 ms·

Bravo, and here's hoping that other countries follow. I was recently shocked to discover that my backwards eastern european country is one of the few in the EU

Bravo, and here's hoping that other countries follow. I was recently shocked to discover that my backwards eastern european country is one of the few in the EU that has even decriminalized drugs; I genuinely thought that this was standard in the EU but apparently not, see this map https://i.imgur.com/A0JICkk.jpg https://i.imgur.com/A0JICkk.jpg

Fnoord 7y ago
In Germany, there's a huge difference between Bavaria/Munich and Berlin. In Berlin, cannabis might get confiscated while in Bavaria/Munich you end up with jail time. To aid further with irony, in Bavaria/Munich they drink a lot of beer (= drugs) during Oktoberfest.
- thecleaner 7y ago
  Off topic but I found Bavaria to be much more snobbish in general. For example, point out something funny about them and they immediately go on the defensive, however everyt time they say something rude and you point it out, they play the German honesty card. Never had such a problem with Berlin or Frankfurt.
  - EForEndeavour 7y ago
    In my n = 1 anecdotal experience, that description perfectly matches a person I know from the Frankfurt Rhein-Main region.
  - YippRino 7y ago
    Not doubting you, but what's the sample size here? Pretty interesting that regional differences like this do exist in some places. And anecdotally, friend of mine spoke pretty highly of Bavaria after a (very) short trip.
    - Krasnol 7y ago
      I can confirm that and I'm there regularly for business. I assume it's because it's pretty much the pearl of the region (Bavaria) and if you take this away there is not much left. Also the city is full of pretty rich people who tend to this kind of behaviour. You see the same in people where the location of the city is similar like Warsaw in Poland for example being surrounded by backwater villages.
      - thecleaner 7y ago
        Just one question. In a city with high rents and salaries which never go above 80k how are these people so full of themselves ? Low wages is a German problem but at least cost of living is under control in several places.
        Krasnol 7y ago
        > Just one question. In a city with high rents and salaries which never go above 80k how are these people so full of themselves ? Because of just this. They are the elite who can afford living there.
    - thecleaner 7y ago
      Like 6 or 7 with no variance actually. Hence the strong statement.
  - salsadip 7y ago
    „Ohh Frankfurt is so ugly!“ first thing I heard when I said where i was from. Didn‘t care much for it but the bluntness dumbfounded me
    - Krasnol 7y ago
      You can't really blame the people. Especially if they arrive by train and end up in one of the worse (the worse?) parts of the city.
    - rhcom2 7y ago
      I get a similar reaction here in the States saying I'm from New Jersey. Some places people feel fine shitting on to a person's face, it's odd.
- Krasnol 7y ago
  I guess it depends. I was on a business trip in Munich once, took the chance to visit a friend who got me a hand full pre-rolled joints for the remaining days I had to spend in the city. One night after work I went out to the park opposite the hotel and started smoking. I was suddenly surrounded by police. They are really all over the city and I was stupid. They went through my stuff in the hotel, I gave them the remaining joints and they left. A few weeks later I got a letter saying that they won't follow up on it according to §31a Abs.1 BtMG.
  - ofrzeta 7y ago
    That's how it works. There's a maximum amount ("Höchstmenge") where they close the case when you are below that. The maximum amount varies between federal states, so Bavaria and twelve other states are quite strict with a limit of 6g while four other states have a higher limit of 12g or more.
- mrzool 7y ago
  > In Berlin, cannabis might get confiscated That’s a very strong “might“. Possession is legal for up to 15g in Berlin, and virtually no cop will ever bother you for smoking weed.
smcl 7y ago
It's funny how these things turn our expectations upside-down. I'm from the UK originally and they semi-recently (~10 years ago) upgraded the severity with which they treat cannabis so that it's now "Class B". This means that mere possession can result in "Up to 5 years in prison, an unlimited fine or both" (more @ https://www.gov.uk/penalties-drug-possession-dealing https://www.gov.uk/penalties-drug-possession-dealing). So yeah, your country might not be so backwards after all, and in this respect at least is pretty enlightened in the grand scheme of things :-)
- detritus 7y ago
  And at around the same time made magic mushrooms completely illegal, whereas prior there had been a workaround leading to a healthy market. The tragedy of this late Labour-era push against loosening /smarting-up of drug legislation is that it fairly directly led to the boom in synthetic cannabinoids, starting with the fairly benign Spice (as a brand) and resulting in a swathe of much-stronger, less-tested and more dangerous brands flying under the radar which (all Hoover/Google-like) were collectively known as 'Spice', but have caused problems for many in the underclass and prisons and such. I'm not much in to party politics, but this is one thing I directly attribute to Gordon Brown and his very unhelpful moralising.
  - mrzool 7y ago
    Workaround == loophole?
    - detritus 7y ago
      That's another way to put it, of course :) The law specified dried mushrooms specifically as the stance skirted complexities regarding the picking or possession of native wildlife samples (psilocybe semilanceata predominently). With kits offering the ability to grow easier-to-grow strains from elsewhere in the world (Central and South America principally) we sought clarification from the Home Office on whether it was actually illegal to possess and sell fresh magic mushrooms. Turns out, there wasn't anything illegal in that. Made for an interesting few years. We assumed a change or clarification in the law at some point, so prepared for a time when sale of fresh mushrooms per se would be outlawed. We never expected them to come down as hard as they did though, so the survival/back up plan of forming a small laboratory to grow mycelium and take spore prints and cater to an enthusiast market was all for naught. Strange to think at the time that we thought we were on the verge of the UK being at the front of the line for a change in stance on cannabis and drugs generally, but Mr. Brown took us down a different path.
99052882514569 7y ago
Here's a better map, because it breaks down the US by state and is more up-to-date: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_cannabis#/media/File:Map-of-world-cannabis-laws.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_cannabis#/media/Fi...
- frayesto 7y ago
  What sucks in the US is that cannabis is still federally illegal. So you if work in a government job/military, or smoke on federal property you can be charged with a crime
  - wincy 7y ago
    Also some large companies will fire you if you test positive for it even if you work in a state where it’s legal.
    - TelmoMenezes 7y ago
      The land of the free: now with mandatory drugs testing at work.
      - refurb 7y ago
        Many of those jobs requiring testing for safety reasons (but not all). Are you suggesting the US isn't the land of the free because people aren't free to come to work intoxicated and potentially endanger their colleagues?
        TelmoMenezes 7y ago
        No, I am saying that the US isn't the land of the free because, in practice, you seem to live under immense scrutiny and oppression when compared to other western countries. No privacy over even your own body, no job security, no health care without a job, no holidays.
swebs 7y ago
Funny how Netherlands is red.

Fnoord 7y ago

In Germany, there's a huge difference between Bavaria/Munich and Berlin. In Berlin, cannabis might get confiscated while in Bavaria/Munich you end up with jail time. To aid further with irony, in Bavaria/Munich they drink a lot of beer (= drugs) during Oktoberfest.

thecleaner 7y ago
Off topic but I found Bavaria to be much more snobbish in general. For example, point out something funny about them and they immediately go on the defensive, however everyt time they say something rude and you point it out, they play the German honesty card. Never had such a problem with Berlin or Frankfurt.
- EForEndeavour 7y ago
  In my n = 1 anecdotal experience, that description perfectly matches a person I know from the Frankfurt Rhein-Main region.
- YippRino 7y ago
  Not doubting you, but what's the sample size here? Pretty interesting that regional differences like this do exist in some places. And anecdotally, friend of mine spoke pretty highly of Bavaria after a (very) short trip.
  - Krasnol 7y ago
    I can confirm that and I'm there regularly for business. I assume it's because it's pretty much the pearl of the region (Bavaria) and if you take this away there is not much left. Also the city is full of pretty rich people who tend to this kind of behaviour. You see the same in people where the location of the city is similar like Warsaw in Poland for example being surrounded by backwater villages.
    - thecleaner 7y ago
      Just one question. In a city with high rents and salaries which never go above 80k how are these people so full of themselves ? Low wages is a German problem but at least cost of living is under control in several places.
      - Krasnol 7y ago
        > Just one question. In a city with high rents and salaries which never go above 80k how are these people so full of themselves ? Because of just this. They are the elite who can afford living there.
  - thecleaner 7y ago
    Like 6 or 7 with no variance actually. Hence the strong statement.
- salsadip 7y ago
  „Ohh Frankfurt is so ugly!“ first thing I heard when I said where i was from. Didn‘t care much for it but the bluntness dumbfounded me
  - Krasnol 7y ago
    You can't really blame the people. Especially if they arrive by train and end up in one of the worse (the worse?) parts of the city.
  - rhcom2 7y ago
    I get a similar reaction here in the States saying I'm from New Jersey. Some places people feel fine shitting on to a person's face, it's odd.
Krasnol 7y ago
I guess it depends. I was on a business trip in Munich once, took the chance to visit a friend who got me a hand full pre-rolled joints for the remaining days I had to spend in the city. One night after work I went out to the park opposite the hotel and started smoking. I was suddenly surrounded by police. They are really all over the city and I was stupid. They went through my stuff in the hotel, I gave them the remaining joints and they left. A few weeks later I got a letter saying that they won't follow up on it according to §31a Abs.1 BtMG.
- ofrzeta 7y ago
  That's how it works. There's a maximum amount ("Höchstmenge") where they close the case when you are below that. The maximum amount varies between federal states, so Bavaria and twelve other states are quite strict with a limit of 6g while four other states have a higher limit of 12g or more.
mrzool 7y ago
> In Berlin, cannabis might get confiscated That’s a very strong “might“. Possession is legal for up to 15g in Berlin, and virtually no cop will ever bother you for smoking weed.

smcl 7y ago

It's funny how these things turn our expectations upside-down. I'm from the UK originally and they semi-recently (~10 years ago) upgraded the severity with which they treat cannabis so that it's now "Class B". This means that mere possession can result in "Up to 5 years in prison, an unlimited fine or both" (more @ https://www.gov.uk/penalties-drug-possession-dealing https://www.gov.uk/penalties-drug-possession-dealing). So yeah, your country might not be so backwards after all, and in this respect at least is pretty enlightened in the grand scheme of things :-)

detritus 7y ago
And at around the same time made magic mushrooms completely illegal, whereas prior there had been a workaround leading to a healthy market. The tragedy of this late Labour-era push against loosening /smarting-up of drug legislation is that it fairly directly led to the boom in synthetic cannabinoids, starting with the fairly benign Spice (as a brand) and resulting in a swathe of much-stronger, less-tested and more dangerous brands flying under the radar which (all Hoover/Google-like) were collectively known as 'Spice', but have caused problems for many in the underclass and prisons and such. I'm not much in to party politics, but this is one thing I directly attribute to Gordon Brown and his very unhelpful moralising.
- mrzool 7y ago
  Workaround == loophole?
  - detritus 7y ago
    That's another way to put it, of course :) The law specified dried mushrooms specifically as the stance skirted complexities regarding the picking or possession of native wildlife samples (psilocybe semilanceata predominently). With kits offering the ability to grow easier-to-grow strains from elsewhere in the world (Central and South America principally) we sought clarification from the Home Office on whether it was actually illegal to possess and sell fresh magic mushrooms. Turns out, there wasn't anything illegal in that. Made for an interesting few years. We assumed a change or clarification in the law at some point, so prepared for a time when sale of fresh mushrooms per se would be outlawed. We never expected them to come down as hard as they did though, so the survival/back up plan of forming a small laboratory to grow mycelium and take spore prints and cater to an enthusiast market was all for naught. Strange to think at the time that we thought we were on the verge of the UK being at the front of the line for a change in stance on cannabis and drugs generally, but Mr. Brown took us down a different path.

99052882514569 7y ago

Here's a better map, because it breaks down the US by state and is more up-to-date: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_cannabis#/media/File:Map-of-world-cannabis-laws.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_cannabis#/media/Fi...

frayesto 7y ago
What sucks in the US is that cannabis is still federally illegal. So you if work in a government job/military, or smoke on federal property you can be charged with a crime
- wincy 7y ago
  Also some large companies will fire you if you test positive for it even if you work in a state where it’s legal.
  - TelmoMenezes 7y ago
    The land of the free: now with mandatory drugs testing at work.
    - refurb 7y ago
      Many of those jobs requiring testing for safety reasons (but not all). Are you suggesting the US isn't the land of the free because people aren't free to come to work intoxicated and potentially endanger their colleagues?
      - TelmoMenezes 7y ago
        No, I am saying that the US isn't the land of the free because, in practice, you seem to live under immense scrutiny and oppression when compared to other western countries. No privacy over even your own body, no job security, no health care without a job, no holidays.

swebs 7y ago

Funny how Netherlands is red.