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Germany will legalize marijuana and promote drug harm reduction
- globalise83 5y agoGood news. The momentum is becoming irresistible and irreversible.
- monopoledance 5y agoThis isn't about momentum for legalization. That was never lost on Germany. However, 21.3% of people allowed to vote are 70+ years old here. Make that 38.2% for 60+ years old. Germany wouldn't have suffered 16 years of conservative neglect and stagnation, if it wasn't for the "not really interested in politics at my age anymore" and the literally demented. Honestly, we only got a chance to a future, pay the infrastructure debt and undo the shameful stagnation in social progression, because the CDU managed to run with a total dimwit and a series of their typical corruption uncovered right before election. I am worried, we're fucked beyond repair to be honest, though.
- CanceledAccount 5y agoFrom my outsider’s perspective as an American, Germany has always looked like a well functioning, stable nation. I see here a transition from slight right of center to slight left of center, and a corresponding policy shift that will place you at the vanguard of progressivism on drug policy. Nothing about this seems “fucked,” it seems very good and even impressive.
- monopoledance 5y agoI get how it may seem that way, I believed that myself for the longest time. The problem is that the CDU abstained from any infrastructure investments in the last 16 years for the sake of preventing national debt. Because of that, e.g. schools and digitization are in a horribly neglected state. Same for future proof industries in tech and renewable energies (where Germany once led the field). Rents are destabilizing the social fabric, pensions are not expected for the younger generations, ... there is soooo much debt everywhere - but the books look good, I guess. The CDU is deeply corrupt and basically didn't care for setting up Germany for its future, when times were fundamentally changing on all fronts. And now I am not sure a new government can realistically fix any of that, especially since at least the FDP doesn't want new debt either. Debt is not the fucking problem, if it's invested in the future's welfare. God damn libertarians. Total cringe.
- intricatedetail 5y agoIt's only right thing to do. Fingers crossed it won't get derailed.
- ushakov 5y agoThings will change when cannabis users (in Germany) stopped treated like criminals
- xcambar 5y agoWhere is "here"? The article mentions it is decriminalized in DE.
- rightiousrob 5y agoHow hard is it to imagine that an hn user is not based in the us?
- hervature 5y agoHow hard is it to imagine that an hn user is referring to "here" as hn?
- xcambar 5y agovery easy since I’m not. what did you understand or infer from my message?
- mclightning 5y agothis question tells more about your own biases rather than the commenter above honestly.
- skrause 5y agoIt's not really decriminalized. While you don't have to fear criminal prosecution in most cases (unless you're in Bavaria) they will punish you by taking away your driving license, even if you never actually drove under influence.
- ushakov 5y agonot just that: employers, insurances and banks could use this information against you (police record = bad business) "decriminalised", but given "right circumstances" will screw you for years
- canadianwriter 5y agoMostly off topic but when I read these stories I'm always irked at the use of "marijuana" instead of cannabis. Maybe because I'm in Toronto where cannabis is fully legal and every store around me that sells it uses cannabis - not to mention the products all use that term as well. Marijuana just seems like your using old, slightly racist terminology. And makes me think of 4/20 BLAZE IT kind of crap. Which is probably why companies here use cannabis to go after the non "taking this is my entire lifestyle" crowd.
- dahfizz 5y agoHow is "marijuana" racist?
- netizen-936824 5y agoThat's exactly what it is. I make a point to use the term cannabis, as marijuana is simply slang with racist connotations attached due to the propaganda of the war on drugs
- s1artibartfast 5y agoFor similar reasons, I refer to burritos as tortilla bean wraps.
- netizen-936824 5y agoAh yes, I remember all the propaganda hit pieces demonizing burritos.
- sturza 5y agoMarijuana is the dried leaves and flowers of the Cannabis sativa or Cannabis indica plant. I cannot imagine how the term is racist. But the fact thay it makes you think of 420, that’s just you.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- saiya-jin 5y agoHopefully, as strongest economy in EU finally gets some sanity re weed other countries not only in the bloc will follow. No reason to vilify (non-trivial) part of the population that just wants some relax in these trying times. Give users selection. Filter and punish misuse with same criteria as alcohol. Anything above doesn't make much sense. Also funny is like police unions quickly protested against, I guess significant part of their 'success' is coming from this. In US I think also companies owning private prisons push anti-legalization propaganda. As they say, just follow the money...
- boibombeiro 5y ago> think also companies owning private prisons push anti-legalization propaganda. As they say, just follow the money... There is way more propaganda in favor of legalization. And more money can be made selling cannabis than was ever made with prisional system. I've read books, read papers about cannabis. There isnt enough information to make any claim weather legalization would cause a net positive or negative change in society. Because of this, people usually goes into more philosophical argumentation. Which is fine. But it is funny seeing people arguing that cannabis should be legalized because freedom. But are not OK with people using the same argument for not taking vaccines. (I know this "nuanced", still find funny)
- piva00 5y agoMy belief is that after Germany push for legalisation we will probably see France, the Netherlands, Belgium and maybe Spain and Portugal following on the next 5 years. For the rest of the block I believe it will be a very slow push, probably only after seeing the benefits for the budgets of countries legalising through new taxes that will push politicians to chase the money. I don't think Sweden will see any kind of reform or push for legalisation on the next 10 years, the anti-drugs policies and general environment is pretty strong since the 70s (or way before if you consider the failed prohibition movement from the early 20th century).
- jimsimmons 5y agoAs a recovering addict I’m quite mixed about legalisation. On one hand it helps out a lot of people and removes stigma around a form of indulgence. At the same time this is probably creating orders of magnitude more addicts. The adverse effects of a strong dependence can be severe: from people letting life blast past them without much realisation to lung/brain function/psychological disorders. I wish we could have a proper debate about this to work out a regulated form of legalisation. Somehow this too is politicised and there’s a lot of misinformation (“weed is not addictive “ etc) so we get the bipolar version of this issue as we do with pretty much everything else these days
- Krasnol 5y agoI'm sure we'll get a lot discussion once the tabu is gone. People were reluctant to talk about it because of fear from stigma and prosecution. Most of the people you've heard talking about it were either "kids" or artists (musicians, comedians, etc.).
- rconti 5y ago> probably creating orders of magnitude more addicts [citation needed]
- jimsimmons 5y agoIf there’s x% chance of addiction and the availability increases by few orders of magnitude wouldn’t it naturally follow?
- chishaku 5y agoNo. There is precedent in various US states and a handful of countries. Cost benefit analysis of what is actually happening in these places is a key motivator for the continued wave of legalization around the world. This is much studied. DYOR but here's a start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_policy_of_Portugal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_policy_of_Portugal https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=portugal+drug+policy&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=portugal+drug+policy&hl... Also, I'm not sure if you literally mean "a few orders of magnitude" or are using that phrase to simply mean "an increase".
- daptaq 5y agoHope this won't lead to more smoking in public places. Every time I notice people consuming or having have had consumed the drug in some form, I found it even more insufferable than day-to-day cigarettes.
- iaabtpbtpnn 5y agoYou sound like you could use a puff from a joint.
- rconti 5y agoIt seems fairly obvious that the subset of circumstances in which you become aware someone HAS ingested a drug (and is therefore intoxicated) would be more annoying than the superset of circumstances in which you merely see that someone is beginning to consume a drug.
- ohazi 5y agoNot necessarily. If it's the smoke and smell that bothers me rather than intoxicated antics, I might be more annoyed by someone lighting up at the coffee table next to mine than if they were just sitting there stoned out of their mind.
- iostream23 5y agoTotally legit. I smoke at home or hidden away from sight or bothering others with the smell. I was referring to the op who is seemed to say they were irritated by other’s consuming cannabis, which irritates me, as it’s some apparatus designed to mess me up with no regard to my preference in remaining unmussed.
- daptaq 5y agoThere must have been a misunderstanding. I don't care about consumption per se, just the effect that smoking in public spaces has on my nose.
- trulyrandom 5y agoHah, I can't believe that Germany (of all EU countries) will likely be legalizing cannabis before the Netherlands. This is good news, though.
- posterboy 5y agoThey are not going to. I have not heard any plans to allow home growing, and I don't expect there will be anything that could cut into the tax profits. That means it is still prohibited in the most basic form. It's sinister.
- pwdisswordfish0 5y agoWell, it’s viridis.
- rpadovani 5y agoLet's see if the government will stay alive for long enough to actually promote the law. It's the first government after-Merkel, I am really curious how things will go...
- alecco 5y agoThis sounds like a distraction to cover actual issues right now.
- Krasnol 5y agoSo your theory is that soon everybody will be so stoned that they stop caring about everything else or whom is this distraction supposed to be targetted on?
- y4mi 5y agoI'm pretty sure his theory is that the whole discussion about cannabis is a distraction from other political topics, i.e. that our new Kanzler was one of the people responsible for the biggest corruption scandal in Germanys history (Google his name + CumEx) and other similar stuff. It's not so much what people are gonna do once it's passed and more about what controversial topics they can raise so people don't pay attention to other things. I personally have never had a worse outlook on Germanys political future. This will show any politician that they don't have to worry about anything and keep enriching themselves with no recourse to speak of.
- Krasnol 5y agoI don't see anything which would serve as a base for this assumption. Barely anyone outside the youth bubble cares about this topic atm and I don't see it changing anytime soon. Nothing is being clouded by it and it won't be. I'd be surprised if it generates more than one BILD headline when they come up with an actual law. It surely won't be the headline of tomorrow. > I personally have never had a worse outlook on Germanys political future. This will show any politician that they don't have to worry about anything and keep enriching themselves with no recourse to speak of. I guess this is the actual source of your assumption. Your perception is being clouded by something which seems to radiate a vision of Germany where the past years of standing still is something which you consider having been better than the program we just got today. Meanwhile, in reality we're finally moving. Important topics will be actually grabbed and moved. There are more good ideas in this program than within the combined time of Merkel together and all you are talking about is: "Scholz bad" & "something something cannabis".
- solarkraft 5y agoI can’t get super happy about this because it should never have been illegal in the first place. Thanks for reverting something incredibly dumb. But this also makes me mad. They chose to legalize one of many wrongly illegalized substances and now barely mention the others (testing, boo hoo). They better do some criminalization (obligatory Portugal reference).
- solarkraft 5y agoDE-criminalization, of course.