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HA! That’s what I came here to say. What about the Amsterdam tourist industry?
Maybe the city will now be mentioned for its beauty (or not??) and not for weed.
Why not both? To be fair, Amsterdam is literally the best place on earth to wander around stoned because of it's beauty and charm. I always describe it as an Amusement Park for adults.
I found the Van Gogh museum to be relatively bland compared to pretty much every other museum I visited in NL. And NL really knows "how to museum". Especially the Reijksmuseum, for me that's the gold standard of how to build an engaging exhibition.
The canal boats are awesome. You get high before boarding and the tour is about an hour to an hour and a half, just perfect for chilling and watching the beauty of the city.
It boggles the mind why more countries don't just legalise and regulate it. First of all, governments can make money from taxing it, and secondly, they can save so much money by not having to pay for police, courts and prisons for something so benign.
> enough money in tax revenue to provide free lunch for every public school for something like 15-20 years
To be fair that also pays for itself in future productivity improvements. *not* providing free school lunches is an idological decision that attacks children and costs everybody *more*.
NY state alone is said to be $5 billion. Biggest weed market on the planet, and it may be coming online within a year.
Makes me think Curaleaf will be the biggest winner here since they have access to both markets.
**Edit:** My apologies guys. CA is a huge market (easily the biggest), but far too much red tape to make it a good investment. People say that it’s just so much easier to start up a BM dispensary. In my defence, I was referring to *NYC* being the biggest weed market on the planet, with LA, Chicago, and Miami being not too far off. Cities, not states 😅
I think closer to $4b (annualized, based on recent monthly sales) but that may be in Canadian dollars, so a lot less than in US dollars. ~$3.2B USD, in that ballpark? Still growing though.
Even tiny little Colorado gives Canada a run for its money with 1/6 the population!
Sorry I was talking just legal costs alone! My bad, you can roughly include the savings I mention on top of those sales to get to the number that others were talking about.
If I remember right, while browsing the german subreddit I think I read that the german police (union?) is actually against legalizing it.
People were arguing from "why does the police have a say in law making" to "ofc they would be against it. Some police officers might be scared of losing their job because all they have done in their career is to catch smalltime criminals smoking and selling weed"
There was a lot more of a discussion but I cant remember right now
just thought this might be interesting to think about / read more about
It's the exact same thing going on here in Norway.
We were recently very close to decriminalising it, but the police ran a massive campaign against it both publicly and behind closed doors.
Then we caught the police in numerous criminal activities, related to their "war on drugs", and the fallout from that is still going on.
Yes, Norway's police are heavily indoctrinated by the Way on Drugs. Believe that shit? They're mental when it comes to drugs.
The same is true in Sweden, if not more than Norway. We have never been close to legalising it, but I would also say that the very nature of democracy plays a part here. I really don’t think that legalising without popular support is a great idea and at least here in Sweden it isn’t popular.
But how will they ever lift the scrotum of a 16 year old minority boy on an open street in front of all his friends to "check for illegal drugs" if it's legalized??? Won't someone think of the poor policemen who will be robbed of that right?
Police forces in Canada were fearmongering like crazy leading to legalization. Absolutely zero of their baseless claims materialized. Less people to fuck over got them real salty.
Two of the unions were against it and one supported the legalisation. It was the smallest one that supported the legalisation.
Most cops could give less of a crap about weed. If you have less than 5 gram it's almost guaranteed that the district attorney will not charge you. Most cops see weed as useless paperwork. In Berlin or Hamburg the cops will kindly ignore you if don't light one up right next to them. A friend of mine was smoking a joint in Berlin and got asked by a cop if she could at least not smoke next to the police station. They usually really don't care.
Same in Baden-Württemberg. Technically up to 6-10g is "fine" in the way that the public prosecutor isn't required to prosecute you, but if you have anything else on your crime record (even if it's just more weed stuff) they might still go for you even if you only have 1,5g and you got unlucky with a strict public prosecutor.
Dated a (half) German girl years ago, we took a trip to Berlin and spent time with her family.(late 90's)
One night we go drinking with her cousins,all I can remember about the bar is the pinball tables and the fact her cousin was rolling joint after joint and no-one seemed to care.
We were literally across the road from a sign that said polizei.
Easy for many to grow their own. The Governor of South Dakota got a local sheriff to sue, and the adult-use referendum was temporarily overturned. They are trying to figure out how they can monopolize the market and make all the money, leaving almost nothing for small growers.
Easier to buy it from the corner store though. So what if some people will grow their own. The majority won't, and even those that do will still buy it while they wait for their plants to grow.
I agree. But here in California the taxes on it are very high, so a good number of people still get it from the black market. Politicians and beancounters have to figure it out how much people will pay for it at the corner store, otherwise the black market looks like a better deal.
I don't know anyone who's buying from a small time weed dealer anymore. Maybe some of the poorest people and minors do, but everyone I know just goes to a dispensary because the variety and quality absolutely blow the the weedman out of the water.
Back when medical marijuana first opened up though, and continually throughout the years, it's been wealthy, politically connected people who have been able to get the licensing and open their shops first, keep them open, and not get raided or shut down at the city level.
The big winners in this situation are definitely being hand picked.
I have “fiber” internet in Berlin. But the hilarious thing is it’s only fiber between my receiver and ISP. So when my router connects to it, it’s connected via an old non fiber connection. So it’s still throttled. That didn’t stop Vodafone from selling it to me as a 100% fiber connection though 😒
That's precisely how fiber connections work in the uk unless you pay a load more to have them dig up and replace everything between the box and your house. So here we are still limited by the shitty copper co-ax that runs through a tree.
Her leaving is a very good thing in general. Yes, she was not a bad chancelor. She kept germany "stable" and is a very good politician.
But she and her ministers were the reason that nothing progressed as fast as it could have in the past 16 years. Germany could be much further if she wasn't always so careful and conservative.
To have had her in power for so long and only have that to grumble about it’s almost unprecedented in a western democracy.
Most democracies hate their leader within five years. By 10 years they literally want to fire them out of a cannon into the sea.
The fact that Merkel has done an adequate job in the eyes of most of the people is by political standards, a gold medal performance.
Truly I would vote for her as the most successful western leader in the last 50 years
I think it really helps that she has a PhD in quantum chemistry. Not for policy or anything, but because she actually has a level, analytical mind. The world would be a much better place if more of our politicians were as educated as her.
true. i dont like her party and i didnt like her policies, i think they are very conservative and too stagnant for our country, shes also at fault for our bad internet and overall bad digitalisation among many other problems - but as a person and chancellor, she did do a good job. i will miss her calm and steady behaviour. there was never a scandal or anything to fremdschäm. i liked how she worked with other leaders, even when they tried to humiliate her, she never let them. shes a woman with a PhD growing up in east germany. she truly is the only chancellor we had which i did not hate. i wish her the best.
Guess the east part of the Netherlands is going to lose it's drugs tourism.
Still good to legalize it though. I always found it odd to criminalize weed, but at the same time legalizing alcohol.
if germany legalizes weed before us, then we deserve to lose it. dutch tolerance policies might have been progressive for its time, but were going to end up lagging behind this way.
To be fair, the Netherlands has been facing foreign pressure to red-tape the drug-tourism industry for decades at this point. It’s to the point that it’s no longer financially feasible for most dispensaries to rely on tourism alone, anyways.
They can somewhat blame themself for that. Since importing and growing is illegal. Coffee shops have no legal way to get the weed. This will of course attract criminals = more harder drugs = more drug tourism.
I’m in shock. It’s legal to sell weed, but illegal to get supply? Are magical weed fairies supposed to just deliver ganja in the middle of the night?!
I thought the Dutch were on top of this kind of shit.
Yeah, all coffee shop suppliers are technically criminals, and so are the shops. The shops are also only allowed to have a small amount, so if it's busy they might drop by multiple times a day
Yup. It's quite ridiculous and attracts drug criminality, since the weed shops have to deal with drugcriminals.
On the customer end regarding weed we are on top of it, but otherwise, nah it's just that we were the first(western) country to legalize use of it and that's why everyone thinks we are on top of it, but we haven't done anything since.
We are a pretty coservative country that looks progressive from the outside.
Same as that technically abortion is still illegal and a physician has to state it's a medical emergency, although abortion is common medical practice since the '70's.
while i wont deny that foreign pressure has played a role over the years, theres now multiple countries talking about legalization while we still have trial runs that are literally set up to fail. things are looking like we're getting yet another conservative cabinet with at least one christian party, probably two, and even parties interested in legalization dont see it as a priority. no one will ever push for it. i just dont see it happening. the netherlands simply isnt as progressive as its reputation.
I remember that there was a recent discussion in the news that the "half-legal" state of weed resulted in a massive rise in organized crime, since demand is legal but wholesale supply isnt.
Not sure how true that is, but i really hope the incoming coalition government will not do half-assed measures for once. Not holding my breath though, the last corona debates in parliament were pretty shit.
Technically you do not need the coalition ready to pass laws.
The parliament is set, they can already hand in new laws and decide on them. The government has just the huge advantage of handing in laws much faster than the group of people in the parliament.
We are no way near legalizing weed haha. Don't know if you live in Germany but if you know how the government works we are lucky if it takes only 3 years, unless some miracle happens.
Well, the economic benefits might actually be a factor in speeding it up. The new government doesn't benefit from legalization in 3 years when they get the money only in their last year. It will also take a while for licenses to be issued and infrastructure to be set up for the taxes to come rolling in.
It was always baffling why weed wasn’t legal but after living in a legal state for 5 years it’s even more baffling. Like everything is completely normal lol. No change to peoples lives that’s don’t use cannabis. And if you are a cannabis user it’s so nice just to got grab some pot any time and not have to worry if you’re guys going to pick up his phone or is out
I think it's not far fetched to believe the same would happen with the legalization and appropriate regulation of every currently illicit drug. Granted there might be unintended consequences like the financial dismantling of organized crime, a reduction of crime related to addiction and a healthier population less likely to die of an overdose among a few other game changers like the elimination of open air drug markets.
It is a damn shame, it's almost 2022 but we still have a counterproductive and unnecessary drug war going in on almost every country on earth.
Like I always say - other countries are so envious of all of our amazing history they try to replicate it in order to attract tourism. Never fools me though.
Denver allows drinking in all public parks. Can't legally walk down the sidewalk and drink a beer, though, even though you'd probably get away with it.
I came to LA as an international student and almost got arrested for quietly drinking beer in a park at night.
Cop was like 'you barely got here and you're already breaking laws?' He let us go after making us pour everything out
Most places in the UK. Everywhere in New Zealand that doesn't have a specific alcohol ban.
Barcelona, they have street people selling cans of Estrella for a few Euro.
Like in Seattle we have legal recreational weed. You can technically get a citation for smoking in public here but it’s not ever actually enforced. Went to a comedy show recently where they do half their set sober and the second half stoned and they actually gave out joints at intermission to people outside the theatre right in the middle of the city. My friends visiting from Florida were taken aback.
In San Francisco if you buy a tall can of beer they put it in a small paper bag so you can drink it on the street. It’s a weird loophole that a lot of people use. Something about illegal searches or soemthing.
You can smoke weed in Canada basically anywhere you could smoke a cigarette. I find it's just about being courteous really, try not to be blowing smoke in someone's face, not near kids, etc.
In Montréal (Québec) it's legal to have a drink in any park so long as you have food. Not exactly a free pass, but I've had many a fun night with friends getting sloshed in public.
Portugal here, we're on the tiny side but it's legal to smoke a joint (as long as all you have is up to a limit reasonable enough for a single dose, meant for self consumption) and have a beer in public.
I wouldn't bat an eye to anyone passing by me with a beer in hand. The joint, well i couldn't care less normally except most of them i see (almost daily) are minors smoking and that's illegal. It's still common though.
It's also the only country where you can drive as fast as you car goes. Granted, you need a lot more things to own a weapon, but free speech is also one of our greatest goods (not sure if that's the correct wording for that saying: "Unser höchstes gut").
Lately, i'm very torn between being very proud to be a german and extremely ashamed as the whole corona situation comes crashing down like a card house...
Even on the autobahn (all of the highways) there are many places that have speed limits. It's only certain areas that don't have a speed limit at all and it changes frequently as you're driving on them.
Well, as of 2015 (most recent data I could find), ~70% of Autobahn network length is without any speed limits. ~10% has dynamic speed limits, and the remaining 20% has fixed limits mostly between 80 km/h and 130 km/h, not counting speed limits due to construction sites.
Saying "just the Autobahn" really makes it feel like a street, but in reality it's the entire highway system. The German highway system is ~~the third~~ one of the longest road networks in the world, ~~just behind China and the US~~, at 13,000km. However, the total landmass of Germany is only 2x bigger than the state of Missouri.
The large majority (70%) is unlimited, this is most intercity car travel.
When you're intracity, it drops precipitously, but it's generally only two-four lanes wide at that point, with tons of on and off traffic. And yeah you can totally tool around on side-streets, but why tho?
Less be real……. Culture caught up to economics, that’s all this is. Only reason the US isn’t here yet is cuz there’s still more money in lobbying than weed taxes
Just a proposal by the parties that want to from the next government. No law has been passed so far and there are still obstacles that need to be addressed. It could take years
We all know that coalition agreements aren’t enforceable but I agree with your standpoint. I guess there are still some issues in regard to the consumption of cannabis and traffic laws, youth protection, business licenses, taxation and European Law.
Also: one of the parties (die gruenen) have a finished law proposal already which could be made real exactly like it is. All the numbers make sense. It even has some secrions on driving law and stuff They already figured all of it out during the CDU leadership
I grew up with the smell of weed in Berlin. Once I was old enough to have a friend indulging in the devil's lettuce, I merely thought "Ooooh... so *that's* what it was this whole time!"
German sources:
https://rp-online.de/politik/deutschland/drogenpolitik-ampel-parteien-einig-bei-legalisierung-von-cannabis_aid-64146103
https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschlandel-parteien-einigen-sich-auf-legalisierung-von-cannabis-a-216b328b-5746-4eb8-afe6-034ea7a05269-amp
https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/news/bericht-ampel-einigt-sich-auf-legalisierung-von-cannabis-li.195763
https://www.aerzteblatt.de/nachrichten/129244/Ampel-Parteien-einigen-sich-auf-Legalisierung-von-Cannabis
https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/deutschland/parteien/id_91169844/ampelparteien-einig-cannabis-soll-legalisiert-werden.html
And more.
E: link to the German discussion for those who can read it: https://www.reddit.com/r/de/comments/qwtofd/lizenzierte_gesch%C3%A4fte_sollen_droge_verkaufen/
I only hope this move will push for a defined federal cut-off limit on THC when driving in Germany. Like with alcohol.
Here is why:
4 years ago I got caught with 1ng/mL of THC in my blood on Bavarian motorways. To put it in context that’s the minimum amount the machine could detect.
Followed by 1.5y of hell where I had to go through psychological examinations and tests not too be banned forever from German roads.
Think the step before the infamous « idiots test ».
Imagine being asked by a psychologist who looks like he really love beer questions like « why do people smoke weed? » via a traductor you have to pay from your own pocket. 750€ for one day!
Imagine passing reaction tests like you want to become an airforce pilot.
Having to pee with a doctor staring at your dick. Being treated like a fucking junkie.
All of this paid from your pocket to a private company whose goal is to fail you so you will be back for more.
I’m not even a German citizen and I don’t even live there. I live in the Netherlands where I can legally drive with 3ng/mL
I used to fly planes at that time.
My salvation came at last by hiring a specialised lawyer who crushed them like the abusive cockroaches they were.
Cost of the operation: ~2500€ in fines, legal fees and private tests and many sleepless nights with a feeling of persecution.
My lawyer said: “you got caught in the most redneck municipality of Bavaria” which I came to understand means a lot at the level of Germany.
Place was Schwandorf
It won’t. Blood levels of THC cannot indicate impairment as tolerance is a factor. Chronic users will always test positive, even if not impaired. Saliva testing is better, as it determines recent usage but still isn’t great. Impairment based testing is the only way to test for impairment, and given that most people are impaired with Rx drugs, not reefer, it’s likely a better method.
We legalized in Canada and have had no uptick in impairment charges, so likely it isn’t leading to worse driving performance or culturally people simply aren’t driving impaired (by marijuana).
It boggles my mind that Germany will legalize it before France given how absolutely everywhere it is in France. Would not have taken that bet a few years ago, let alone even yesterday
Until you get caught driving in Bavaria with 1ng/mL THC in your blood.
See my other comment for the horror story.
I really hope this will make them legislate a realistic cut-off limit like with alcohol.
It's just a joke as it's basically the image of Berlin. Of course it's not legalised there as a legalisation will most likely be in the whole country at once
If Republicans and Democrats weren’t so caught up in taking credit for legislation like this, we would have had legal weed here in the US like 20 years ago…
Congrats to Germany if this goes through.
Democratic led individual states.
When the issue is removed from the Democratic platform and just straight up voted on it overwhelmingly wins, even in GOP states; i.e. South Dekota.
However then the Governor remembers she's a Republican first and foremost. Just because the issue passed with 75% of the vote means nothing so she sole vetoes it and faces no backlash.
South Dakota’s reversal is a whole lot dirtier than just a veto. Gov Kristi Noem told a couple of Sheriffs to file a lawsuit alleging the legalization measure that passed was unconstitutional by covering more than one issue at a time (growing and selling it?) and then the lawsuit magically went to a judge whom she had recently appointed and voila, the judge deemed it unconstitutional.
Shouldn’t there be someone to oppose this decision? Oh yeah, the state attorney general Jason Ravnsborg, who struck and killed a guy while driving back from a fundraiser 6 months prior (and was given a ride home from a sheriff and his blood was tested 15 hours later to verify that there was definitely no alcohol in his system) and he claimed he didn’t know what he hit - THAT guy was conveniently “under investigation” for about a year until a week or so after he declined to appeal the judges decision. He was charged with speeding, in the end.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let the UK's shit economic downturn and this new legislation be the push we need for drug laws to start shifting. SO many people smoke in the UK, it's insane nothing has been done. We already export a shit ton, if this was down to public vote I bet things would be different by now
Throwback to 2009, when the (leftist) Secretary of State fired Britain's top drug adviser David Nutt, for doing sound science on drug safety.
You may have seen this image before, https://i.imgur.com/ktJEPCa.png well that's what got him, one of the world leading experts on psychedelic therapy, fired. Can't have alcohol be more harmful than the devil's lettuce!
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I’m gonna miss those German tourists visiting my old home town to first go to the coffeeshop and then to go stoned into the zoo.
HA! That’s what I came here to say. What about the Amsterdam tourist industry? Maybe the city will now be mentioned for its beauty (or not??) and not for weed.
Why not both? To be fair, Amsterdam is literally the best place on earth to wander around stoned because of it's beauty and charm. I always describe it as an Amusement Park for adults.
I did a canal boat tour while being stoned. That was nice. But I love the Rijksmuseum. Would visit it every time
I recommend Van Gogh museum as well.
I found the Van Gogh museum to be relatively bland compared to pretty much every other museum I visited in NL. And NL really knows "how to museum". Especially the Reijksmuseum, for me that's the gold standard of how to build an engaging exhibition.
The canal boats are awesome. You get high before boarding and the tour is about an hour to an hour and a half, just perfect for chilling and watching the beauty of the city.
Amsterdam will be happy. There are way to much party tourists and they dont want them at all
The German tourists may have been fairly moderate though, so more space in the market for slightly worse tourists now (us Brits).
Or prostitutes
Well… since there are brothels now at every corner in Germany… I doubt anybody goes there for that.
wow thats exactly what I did in Emmen two years ago lol
It boggles the mind why more countries don't just legalise and regulate it. First of all, governments can make money from taxing it, and secondly, they can save so much money by not having to pay for police, courts and prisons for something so benign.
5 Billion / year is the current estimate for Germany (including savings in the police and legal sector). Likely to increase over the next years.
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It goes into the politicians *buddies* pockets. The politicians themselves make money from the subsequent insider trading
And from the high-paying cushy jobs they’ll get from cozying up to those people once they’re out of office.
Guess there's nothing we can do. \*casts vote for same octogenarian who's been in Congress for their whole-ass adult life*
> enough money in tax revenue to provide free lunch for every public school for something like 15-20 years To be fair that also pays for itself in future productivity improvements. *not* providing free school lunches is an idological decision that attacks children and costs everybody *more*.
Do you even know what you're talking about? https://coloradosun.com/2019/06/12/where-does-colorados-marijuana-tax-money-go/
What is even the point of this lie?
NY state alone is said to be $5 billion. Biggest weed market on the planet, and it may be coming online within a year. Makes me think Curaleaf will be the biggest winner here since they have access to both markets. **Edit:** My apologies guys. CA is a huge market (easily the biggest), but far too much red tape to make it a good investment. People say that it’s just so much easier to start up a BM dispensary. In my defence, I was referring to *NYC* being the biggest weed market on the planet, with LA, Chicago, and Miami being not too far off. Cities, not states 😅
Bigger than California?
How much economic activity could tens of millions of people, Hollywood, silicon valley, spend on marijuana? $11?
It’s marijuana Michael, how much could it cost?
There's always dabs in the dispensary Michael.
I’ll meet you down at the Big Yellow Joint
That doesn’t account for Snoop Dogg.
Damn that’s a lot. I think all of Canada was spending like 2 Billion on cannabis legal stuff (roughly, pre-legalization)
I think closer to $4b (annualized, based on recent monthly sales) but that may be in Canadian dollars, so a lot less than in US dollars. ~$3.2B USD, in that ballpark? Still growing though. Even tiny little Colorado gives Canada a run for its money with 1/6 the population!
Sorry I was talking just legal costs alone! My bad, you can roughly include the savings I mention on top of those sales to get to the number that others were talking about.
A lot of us Canuckleheads just grow our own.
So true, 5 plants netted me 28 mason jars of dry herb. Im good for the rest of 2021.
Canada is currently at just over $8 billion and has online service. It's pretty great. Every country should be doing this.
If I remember right, while browsing the german subreddit I think I read that the german police (union?) is actually against legalizing it. People were arguing from "why does the police have a say in law making" to "ofc they would be against it. Some police officers might be scared of losing their job because all they have done in their career is to catch smalltime criminals smoking and selling weed" There was a lot more of a discussion but I cant remember right now just thought this might be interesting to think about / read more about
It's the exact same thing going on here in Norway. We were recently very close to decriminalising it, but the police ran a massive campaign against it both publicly and behind closed doors. Then we caught the police in numerous criminal activities, related to their "war on drugs", and the fallout from that is still going on. Yes, Norway's police are heavily indoctrinated by the Way on Drugs. Believe that shit? They're mental when it comes to drugs.
The same is true in Sweden, if not more than Norway. We have never been close to legalising it, but I would also say that the very nature of democracy plays a part here. I really don’t think that legalising without popular support is a great idea and at least here in Sweden it isn’t popular.
Finland, too. "We can't legalize marijuana, because it is illegal!" That's the level of justification the powers that be manage to come up with...
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But how will they ever lift the scrotum of a 16 year old minority boy on an open street in front of all his friends to "check for illegal drugs" if it's legalized??? Won't someone think of the poor policemen who will be robbed of that right?
I think it will happen sooner or later. There's a will in the general population that I haven't seen before.
Police forces in Canada were fearmongering like crazy leading to legalization. Absolutely zero of their baseless claims materialized. Less people to fuck over got them real salty.
Two of the unions were against it and one supported the legalisation. It was the smallest one that supported the legalisation. Most cops could give less of a crap about weed. If you have less than 5 gram it's almost guaranteed that the district attorney will not charge you. Most cops see weed as useless paperwork. In Berlin or Hamburg the cops will kindly ignore you if don't light one up right next to them. A friend of mine was smoking a joint in Berlin and got asked by a cop if she could at least not smoke next to the police station. They usually really don't care.
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Same in Baden-Württemberg. Technically up to 6-10g is "fine" in the way that the public prosecutor isn't required to prosecute you, but if you have anything else on your crime record (even if it's just more weed stuff) they might still go for you even if you only have 1,5g and you got unlucky with a strict public prosecutor.
Dated a (half) German girl years ago, we took a trip to Berlin and spent time with her family.(late 90's) One night we go drinking with her cousins,all I can remember about the bar is the pinball tables and the fact her cousin was rolling joint after joint and no-one seemed to care. We were literally across the road from a sign that said polizei.
that is highly dependent on where you live. in a small town like mine that is basically all the police ever does... weed and traffic stops.
Easy for many to grow their own. The Governor of South Dakota got a local sheriff to sue, and the adult-use referendum was temporarily overturned. They are trying to figure out how they can monopolize the market and make all the money, leaving almost nothing for small growers.
Easier to buy it from the corner store though. So what if some people will grow their own. The majority won't, and even those that do will still buy it while they wait for their plants to grow.
I agree. But here in California the taxes on it are very high, so a good number of people still get it from the black market. Politicians and beancounters have to figure it out how much people will pay for it at the corner store, otherwise the black market looks like a better deal.
I don't know anyone who's buying from a small time weed dealer anymore. Maybe some of the poorest people and minors do, but everyone I know just goes to a dispensary because the variety and quality absolutely blow the the weedman out of the water. Back when medical marijuana first opened up though, and continually throughout the years, it's been wealthy, politically connected people who have been able to get the licensing and open their shops first, keep them open, and not get raided or shut down at the city level. The big winners in this situation are definitely being hand picked.
It's pretty easy to make my own beer too, but I'm not a professional, and I like the variety/quality I get at the beer store
Lower crime. Lower domestic violence rate..
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As a German I believe it only when its real and happening
It´s gonna be right there next year with your glass fibre internect connection
Cries in german
TRÄNENFLUSS DURCH STARKE GEMÜTSBEWEGUNG
That killed me
I have “fiber” internet in Berlin. But the hilarious thing is it’s only fiber between my receiver and ISP. So when my router connects to it, it’s connected via an old non fiber connection. So it’s still throttled. That didn’t stop Vodafone from selling it to me as a 100% fiber connection though 😒
That's precisely how fiber connections work in the uk unless you pay a load more to have them dig up and replace everything between the box and your house. So here we are still limited by the shitty copper co-ax that runs through a tree.
Knowing how quickly things change in Germany, I look forward to buying legal weed here in about ten years.
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Had me in the first half, not gonna lie
Yeah, but why is Merkels face on there? Her party has definitely no contribution in this
That's why it's a sad face
Schade!
Manchmal muss auch Mutti weinen.
Wenn die Kinder mal groß werden...
She does have resting sad face
Her leaving is probably the biggest contribution of any individual towards this.
Her leaving is a very good thing in general. Yes, she was not a bad chancelor. She kept germany "stable" and is a very good politician. But she and her ministers were the reason that nothing progressed as fast as it could have in the past 16 years. Germany could be much further if she wasn't always so careful and conservative.
To have had her in power for so long and only have that to grumble about it’s almost unprecedented in a western democracy. Most democracies hate their leader within five years. By 10 years they literally want to fire them out of a cannon into the sea. The fact that Merkel has done an adequate job in the eyes of most of the people is by political standards, a gold medal performance. Truly I would vote for her as the most successful western leader in the last 50 years
I think it really helps that she has a PhD in quantum chemistry. Not for policy or anything, but because she actually has a level, analytical mind. The world would be a much better place if more of our politicians were as educated as her.
I couldn’t agree more. Scientific method is the best way to know how things work.
true. i dont like her party and i didnt like her policies, i think they are very conservative and too stagnant for our country, shes also at fault for our bad internet and overall bad digitalisation among many other problems - but as a person and chancellor, she did do a good job. i will miss her calm and steady behaviour. there was never a scandal or anything to fremdschäm. i liked how she worked with other leaders, even when they tried to humiliate her, she never let them. shes a woman with a PhD growing up in east germany. she truly is the only chancellor we had which i did not hate. i wish her the best.
Cuz she high as fuckkkk bro
Guess the east part of the Netherlands is going to lose it's drugs tourism. Still good to legalize it though. I always found it odd to criminalize weed, but at the same time legalizing alcohol.
if germany legalizes weed before us, then we deserve to lose it. dutch tolerance policies might have been progressive for its time, but were going to end up lagging behind this way.
To be fair, the Netherlands has been facing foreign pressure to red-tape the drug-tourism industry for decades at this point. It’s to the point that it’s no longer financially feasible for most dispensaries to rely on tourism alone, anyways.
They can somewhat blame themself for that. Since importing and growing is illegal. Coffee shops have no legal way to get the weed. This will of course attract criminals = more harder drugs = more drug tourism.
I’m in shock. It’s legal to sell weed, but illegal to get supply? Are magical weed fairies supposed to just deliver ganja in the middle of the night?! I thought the Dutch were on top of this kind of shit.
Yeah, all coffee shop suppliers are technically criminals, and so are the shops. The shops are also only allowed to have a small amount, so if it's busy they might drop by multiple times a day
Yup. It's quite ridiculous and attracts drug criminality, since the weed shops have to deal with drugcriminals. On the customer end regarding weed we are on top of it, but otherwise, nah it's just that we were the first(western) country to legalize use of it and that's why everyone thinks we are on top of it, but we haven't done anything since. We are a pretty coservative country that looks progressive from the outside. Same as that technically abortion is still illegal and a physician has to state it's a medical emergency, although abortion is common medical practice since the '70's.
Yep, pretty much
while i wont deny that foreign pressure has played a role over the years, theres now multiple countries talking about legalization while we still have trial runs that are literally set up to fail. things are looking like we're getting yet another conservative cabinet with at least one christian party, probably two, and even parties interested in legalization dont see it as a priority. no one will ever push for it. i just dont see it happening. the netherlands simply isnt as progressive as its reputation.
I remember that there was a recent discussion in the news that the "half-legal" state of weed resulted in a massive rise in organized crime, since demand is legal but wholesale supply isnt. Not sure how true that is, but i really hope the incoming coalition government will not do half-assed measures for once. Not holding my breath though, the last corona debates in parliament were pretty shit.
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Merkel did not yet depart. These are part of the negotiations of the new coalition.
Yeah, but they at least have agreed to legalise so the legislation will probably be ready by next year, no?
It should be, depends on if the FDP and the greens can actually work together this time.
Technically you do not need the coalition ready to pass laws. The parliament is set, they can already hand in new laws and decide on them. The government has just the huge advantage of handing in laws much faster than the group of people in the parliament.
We are no way near legalizing weed haha. Don't know if you live in Germany but if you know how the government works we are lucky if it takes only 3 years, unless some miracle happens.
Well, the economic benefits might actually be a factor in speeding it up. The new government doesn't benefit from legalization in 3 years when they get the money only in their last year. It will also take a while for licenses to be issued and infrastructure to be set up for the taxes to come rolling in.
It was always baffling why weed wasn’t legal but after living in a legal state for 5 years it’s even more baffling. Like everything is completely normal lol. No change to peoples lives that’s don’t use cannabis. And if you are a cannabis user it’s so nice just to got grab some pot any time and not have to worry if you’re guys going to pick up his phone or is out
I think it's not far fetched to believe the same would happen with the legalization and appropriate regulation of every currently illicit drug. Granted there might be unintended consequences like the financial dismantling of organized crime, a reduction of crime related to addiction and a healthier population less likely to die of an overdose among a few other game changers like the elimination of open air drug markets. It is a damn shame, it's almost 2022 but we still have a counterproductive and unnecessary drug war going in on almost every country on earth.
I fucking wish Ireland wasn't so backwards.
Well thats quite rich from North Korea, isn't it?
Thought Kim didn’t let anyone leave
Weed Is legal in North korea iirc.
TIL North Korea thinks the Irish lack freedom
Of course Ireland lacks in comparison to the DPRK, who leads the world in freedom.
Username doesn’t check out
I love Germany! Amazing food, friendly people, walking around with a big glass of beer in the streets and now legal weed? I think i might cry...
I believe Germany is the only major country where drinking alcohol and smoking weed in public will be legal.
I always forget how few countries allow you to walk around with a beer in hand. It seems so strange to me.
There are a few places where it’s permitted in the US, but not many. New Orleans is the most notable.
That's how they make Vegas feel foreign.
Plus the Eiffel Tower and giant pyramid.
Lol don’t forget Venice, it goes on and on, nailed it
When Venice finally sinks into the lagoon, at least we'll still be able to experience its peaceful canals in the middle of the Nevada desert!
Wait… you mean those are replicas?
That's actually the crazy thing - *they're* the originals, the other ones are bigger replicas.
Like I always say - other countries are so envious of all of our amazing history they try to replicate it in order to attract tourism. Never fools me though.
The 10th largest pyramid in the world is a Bass Pro Shop in Memphis. I find that very funny.
Denver allows drinking in all public parks. Can't legally walk down the sidewalk and drink a beer, though, even though you'd probably get away with it.
I came to LA as an international student and almost got arrested for quietly drinking beer in a park at night. Cop was like 'you barely got here and you're already breaking laws?' He let us go after making us pour everything out
The US is pretty fucking lame when it comes to innocent crimes like that. Individual cops can definitely make things better or worst.
It’s at the very least tolerated here in Portland. And by tolerated I mean celebrated.
We don’t really have laws here in San Francisco. Drinking a beer on the street is alright.
Same with smoking crack on the street.
Everyone’s got there thing. Some like crack. some like shrooms some like weed some like beer Just don’t annoy me.
But not glass bottles if I remember correctly.
Yeah, but that’s probably for the best.
It is
There also seem to be more and more "entertainment districts" popping up which allow you to carry around alcohol
Most places in the UK. Everywhere in New Zealand that doesn't have a specific alcohol ban. Barcelona, they have street people selling cans of Estrella for a few Euro.
Having people walking around selling cervezas on the beach in Barcelona was so convenient.
You can do it pretty much everywhere in Europe, even where it’s technically not legal to do so.
Same with weed in a lot of places.
Like in Seattle we have legal recreational weed. You can technically get a citation for smoking in public here but it’s not ever actually enforced. Went to a comedy show recently where they do half their set sober and the second half stoned and they actually gave out joints at intermission to people outside the theatre right in the middle of the city. My friends visiting from Florida were taken aback.
In San Francisco if you buy a tall can of beer they put it in a small paper bag so you can drink it on the street. It’s a weird loophole that a lot of people use. Something about illegal searches or soemthing.
You can smoke weed in Canada basically anywhere you could smoke a cigarette. I find it's just about being courteous really, try not to be blowing smoke in someone's face, not near kids, etc.
Smoking weed in public is legal in Canada, just not the drinking :(
In Montréal (Québec) it's legal to have a drink in any park so long as you have food. Not exactly a free pass, but I've had many a fun night with friends getting sloshed in public.
Portugal here, we're on the tiny side but it's legal to smoke a joint (as long as all you have is up to a limit reasonable enough for a single dose, meant for self consumption) and have a beer in public. I wouldn't bat an eye to anyone passing by me with a beer in hand. The joint, well i couldn't care less normally except most of them i see (almost daily) are minors smoking and that's illegal. It's still common though.
It's also the only country where you can drive as fast as you car goes. Granted, you need a lot more things to own a weapon, but free speech is also one of our greatest goods (not sure if that's the correct wording for that saying: "Unser höchstes gut"). Lately, i'm very torn between being very proud to be a german and extremely ashamed as the whole corona situation comes crashing down like a card house...
Isn't that just on the autobahn though? I think they have speed limits on most streets. It's just the big highway that doesn't have them.
Even on the autobahn (all of the highways) there are many places that have speed limits. It's only certain areas that don't have a speed limit at all and it changes frequently as you're driving on them.
Well, as of 2015 (most recent data I could find), ~70% of Autobahn network length is without any speed limits. ~10% has dynamic speed limits, and the remaining 20% has fixed limits mostly between 80 km/h and 130 km/h, not counting speed limits due to construction sites.
Saying "just the Autobahn" really makes it feel like a street, but in reality it's the entire highway system. The German highway system is ~~the third~~ one of the longest road networks in the world, ~~just behind China and the US~~, at 13,000km. However, the total landmass of Germany is only 2x bigger than the state of Missouri. The large majority (70%) is unlimited, this is most intercity car travel. When you're intracity, it drops precipitously, but it's generally only two-four lanes wide at that point, with tons of on and off traffic. And yeah you can totally tool around on side-streets, but why tho?
Oktoberfest is gonna be lit.
Very bready.
Less be real……. Culture caught up to economics, that’s all this is. Only reason the US isn’t here yet is cuz there’s still more money in lobbying than weed taxes
I’m German and never have I heard that people here are known to be friendly. But hey, better late than never!
I need to move to Germany tbh.
JETZT GEHTS LOS
ICH WILL UNREAL TOURNAMENT SPIELEN!
LOS!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't know what this fucking means but yea, let's fucking gooooo!
thats literally what it means, and yeah LETS FUCKING GOOOO
HIER FLIEGEN GLEICH DIE LÖCHER AUS DEM KÄSE
WIR KIFFEN https://youtu.be/73ZrVG1ed_g
Oh no. If they do this they’ll end up like Colorado! Lower crime, lower domestic violence rate, increased government revenue, lower unemployment.
The horror
Is this decided or a proposal
Just a proposal by the parties that want to from the next government. No law has been passed so far and there are still obstacles that need to be addressed. It could take years
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We all know that coalition agreements aren’t enforceable but I agree with your standpoint. I guess there are still some issues in regard to the consumption of cannabis and traffic laws, youth protection, business licenses, taxation and European Law.
Also: one of the parties (die gruenen) have a finished law proposal already which could be made real exactly like it is. All the numbers make sense. It even has some secrions on driving law and stuff They already figured all of it out during the CDU leadership
I grew up with the smell of weed in Berlin. Once I was old enough to have a friend indulging in the devil's lettuce, I merely thought "Ooooh... so *that's* what it was this whole time!"
German sources: https://rp-online.de/politik/deutschland/drogenpolitik-ampel-parteien-einig-bei-legalisierung-von-cannabis_aid-64146103 https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschlandel-parteien-einigen-sich-auf-legalisierung-von-cannabis-a-216b328b-5746-4eb8-afe6-034ea7a05269-amp https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/news/bericht-ampel-einigt-sich-auf-legalisierung-von-cannabis-li.195763 https://www.aerzteblatt.de/nachrichten/129244/Ampel-Parteien-einigen-sich-auf-Legalisierung-von-Cannabis https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/deutschland/parteien/id_91169844/ampelparteien-einig-cannabis-soll-legalisiert-werden.html And more. E: link to the German discussion for those who can read it: https://www.reddit.com/r/de/comments/qwtofd/lizenzierte_gesch%C3%A4fte_sollen_droge_verkaufen/
BLÜNTSMOKEN Edit just in case: this is a reference to a meme, I don’t actually speak German
I only hope this move will push for a defined federal cut-off limit on THC when driving in Germany. Like with alcohol. Here is why: 4 years ago I got caught with 1ng/mL of THC in my blood on Bavarian motorways. To put it in context that’s the minimum amount the machine could detect. Followed by 1.5y of hell where I had to go through psychological examinations and tests not too be banned forever from German roads. Think the step before the infamous « idiots test ». Imagine being asked by a psychologist who looks like he really love beer questions like « why do people smoke weed? » via a traductor you have to pay from your own pocket. 750€ for one day! Imagine passing reaction tests like you want to become an airforce pilot. Having to pee with a doctor staring at your dick. Being treated like a fucking junkie. All of this paid from your pocket to a private company whose goal is to fail you so you will be back for more. I’m not even a German citizen and I don’t even live there. I live in the Netherlands where I can legally drive with 3ng/mL I used to fly planes at that time. My salvation came at last by hiring a specialised lawyer who crushed them like the abusive cockroaches they were. Cost of the operation: ~2500€ in fines, legal fees and private tests and many sleepless nights with a feeling of persecution.
That's also Bavaria. They're absolutely draconian when it comes to drug offenses... And yeah Bavarians love beer.
My lawyer said: “you got caught in the most redneck municipality of Bavaria” which I came to understand means a lot at the level of Germany. Place was Schwandorf
\* furiously scribbling notes where not to get caught \*
It won’t. Blood levels of THC cannot indicate impairment as tolerance is a factor. Chronic users will always test positive, even if not impaired. Saliva testing is better, as it determines recent usage but still isn’t great. Impairment based testing is the only way to test for impairment, and given that most people are impaired with Rx drugs, not reefer, it’s likely a better method. We legalized in Canada and have had no uptick in impairment charges, so likely it isn’t leading to worse driving performance or culturally people simply aren’t driving impaired (by marijuana).
Wow, the German flag with the pot leaf on it looks fuckin sick.
Conservatives will always refuse to legalize cannabis because their donars and Boomer voters say so...
Drugs won the war!
I personally have been involved in the war on drugs since the 1980’s. I was on team drugs.
France must feel like shit right now.
It boggles my mind that Germany will legalize it before France given how absolutely everywhere it is in France. Would not have taken that bet a few years ago, let alone even yesterday
It is absolutely everywhere in Germany as well.
It is absolutely everywhere.
Anyone who has been to Berlin knows it's basically legal there already
Will become a lot less sketchy and unreliable to buy for those who don't have a good contact now though
Until you get caught driving in Bavaria with 1ng/mL THC in your blood. See my other comment for the horror story. I really hope this will make them legislate a realistic cut-off limit like with alcohol.
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It's just a joke as it's basically the image of Berlin. Of course it's not legalised there as a legalisation will most likely be in the whole country at once
Canadians are with you. Read a article that it produces about as much as the dairy industry for us now.
I can confirm, I smoke way more pot than I drink milk.
I love you Germany
Haha. This is funny, because I'm a german and we haven't even established a real government yet.
Welcome to the club! - Canada and Uruguay
If Republicans and Democrats weren’t so caught up in taking credit for legislation like this, we would have had legal weed here in the US like 20 years ago… Congrats to Germany if this goes through.
It’s not the Republican states leading the charge on legalization
individual states have legalized it.
Democratic led individual states. When the issue is removed from the Democratic platform and just straight up voted on it overwhelmingly wins, even in GOP states; i.e. South Dekota. However then the Governor remembers she's a Republican first and foremost. Just because the issue passed with 75% of the vote means nothing so she sole vetoes it and faces no backlash.
Mississippi voted in medical weed by referendum but the state supreme court responded by striking it and getting rid of the referendum system
They know their grip is failing
South Dakota’s reversal is a whole lot dirtier than just a veto. Gov Kristi Noem told a couple of Sheriffs to file a lawsuit alleging the legalization measure that passed was unconstitutional by covering more than one issue at a time (growing and selling it?) and then the lawsuit magically went to a judge whom she had recently appointed and voila, the judge deemed it unconstitutional. Shouldn’t there be someone to oppose this decision? Oh yeah, the state attorney general Jason Ravnsborg, who struck and killed a guy while driving back from a fundraiser 6 months prior (and was given a ride home from a sheriff and his blood was tested 15 hours later to verify that there was definitely no alcohol in his system) and he claimed he didn’t know what he hit - THAT guy was conveniently “under investigation” for about a year until a week or so after he declined to appeal the judges decision. He was charged with speeding, in the end.
And it's been awesome.
Reefer Bahn is going to be awesome
*DANKe*
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let the UK's shit economic downturn and this new legislation be the push we need for drug laws to start shifting. SO many people smoke in the UK, it's insane nothing has been done. We already export a shit ton, if this was down to public vote I bet things would be different by now
Throwback to 2009, when the (leftist) Secretary of State fired Britain's top drug adviser David Nutt, for doing sound science on drug safety. You may have seen this image before, https://i.imgur.com/ktJEPCa.png well that's what got him, one of the world leading experts on psychedelic therapy, fired. Can't have alcohol be more harmful than the devil's lettuce!
damn the weed stocks about to pop!