Germany’s Move to Legalise Cannabis Expected to Create ‘Domino Effect’

THE GUARDIAN: Coalition government consults health experts, economists and growers in race to clear legal hurdles within two years

The German government’s official motivation for legalisation is to break up the illegal cannabis trade. Photograph: Lisi Niesner/Reuters
Germany is mulling over the consequences of soon becoming the world’s largest potential market for legally sold cannabis, as the country’s left-liberal government presses ahead with plans to allow the controlled distribution of the drug among adults.

Olaf Scholz’s coalition government has in recent weeks reiterated its 2021 coalition-deal vow to legalise for recreational use what its Green and liberal party minister have taken to referring to as Bubatz, a slang word for weed popular among German rappers.

A consultation process consisting of five public hearings with health experts, economists and cannabis growers concluded this week, firing the starting gun for a race to clear legal and regulatory hurdles within one to two years. A draft bill is expected within the second half of 2022.

Europe’s largest economy joining Canada and California in legalising cannabis for recreational use could create momentum to change the UN convention that restricts the cultivation of the plant and also puts pressure on neighbouring European states to follow Germany’s lead. » | Philip Oltermann in Berlin | Friday, July 1, 2022

The world is going stark, staring mad! Governments across the West have been waging a war on tobacco and the smoking of cigarettes—though not, you notice, on cigars, because the one percenters enjoy puffing on those and would not tolerate their luxury habit being curtailed—and the UK Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, and the First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, have declared that they want to make England and Wales smoke-free by 2030. Now this crap from Germany!

So, someone please correct me if I am wrong, but the message of this is clear as far as I can tell: It will soon be acceptable to be stoned out of one’s mind and will not only be allowed, but encouraged; but to enjoy a few puffs on a cigarette will not only be discouraged and made so expensive that ordinary folk won’t be able to afford the habit, but it will also be illegal. Go figure! Talk about a topsy-turvy world, this is it! These politicians, wusses all, make me sick!

The official motivation for legalizing cannabis is to break up the illegal cannabis trade. This is tosh! Absolute tosh! Let me tell you the two main motivations as I see them: The authorities have lost control of the illegal cannabis market and are finding it too expensive to police; and then, in addition, the German government sees an opportunity to make the proverbial killing from its legalization. Money aplenty will be made by the German government, especially in the form of taxes. This proposal is cynical, to say the least. This is Geldmacherei if ever I saw it!

The UK government will eventually inevitably follow suit, of course.

So, in the name of fairness, if drug addicts and junkies can get their kicks and fixes, why can’t smokers get some pleasure, too? I trust, therefore, that the high taxes on cigarettes will be brought down soon. If governments are going to let people smoke pot, they should certainly allow them to smoke cigarettes. There will be a domino effect alright! Be sure of that! Oh, and while we are on the subject, can someone in high places contact Philip Morris in Switzerland and demand that they stop sending us their inferior quality cigarettes: their crap. I know this is happening for two reasons: First of all, until early April, I was a smoker of Marlboro Reds (made by Philip Morris). It was clear to me that the quality of these cigarettes, in spite of their very high price, was very inferior to Marlboro Reds in years gone by. Secondly, not so long ago, in a German documentary on Philip Morris on YouTube, one of the directors of Philip Morris stated loud and clear that all the best quality cigarettes these days are exported to the Orient. Ironically, in the Orient, cigarettes are much cheaper than in the Occident. We have to pay the highest of prices for them, yet we are sold the most inferior of cigarettes in exchange.

Make smoking cool again! Make smoking cheaper! Better a whiff than a spliff! – © Mark Alexander

The Pleasure of a Cigarette! / Der Genuß einer Zigarette! / Le plaisir d'une cigarette !

Smoking out of pleasure, not addiction! / Rauchen aus Vergnügen, nicht aus Sucht! / Fumer par plaisir, pas par dépendance !
Don't listen to the ignorant politicians! We've had enough of this Puritanical crap! / Hören Sie nicht auf die ignoranten Politiker! Wir haben genug von diesem puritanischen Mist! / N'écoutez pas les politiciens ignorants ! Nous en avons assez de ces conneries puritaines !
With many thanks to Alex Wjorner on Pinterest for this lovely and interesting photograph.
Make pleasure cool again! Make smoking cool again! After all, there are many undeniable benefits to smoking! Google them! Check them out for yourself! Don't be fooled by the naysayer's narrative!

Sharp Rise in Vaping among Young Adult Non-smokers

BBC: The number of adults in England to have started vaping despite never having been regular smokers has reached one million, scientists estimate.

This is a sharp increase on 2020, with disposable vapes having been available since 2021. The rise is driven mostly by young adults - with about one out of every seven 18-24-year-olds who never regularly smoked now using e-cigarettes. While some may have benefited by taking up vapes instead of traditional cigarettes - the trend could be worrying, experts say. » | Smitha Mundasad, Health reporter, BBC News | Thursday, October 3, 2024

Is vaping bad for you and how are the rules changing?: he number of adults and young people using e-cigarettes and vapes has increased as smoking rates have fallen. »

It serves the silly fools right! They have waged an unrelenting war on smoking cigarettes for years, and now we have this vaping problem instead!

Nobody in his right mind would advocate smoking, but the FACT remains that we do not live in Utopia. People will seek out their pleasures regardless of what stupid, controlling governments might wish. IDIOTIC WESTERN GOVERNMENTS have created this vaping problem because they have PUSHED vaping as a healthier alternative to cigarette smoking. IT ISN’T! If they had left things alone, smoking rates were declining significantly anyway. But now, because of their stupid policies, vaping rates have increased significantly. VAPING IS EXTREMEMELY UNHEALTHY. Probably unhealthier than smoking cigarettes. Further, behaviour patterns in the States show us that many people who now vape move on to cigarette smoking as they mature. Vaping is, after all, more appealing to the young. Mature people prefer cigarette smoking.

Best not to vape and best not to smoke, but if you have to choose, I would say smoking is a far better option. Make smoking cool again! It makes sense. – © Mark Alexander

There’s Something about a Man Who Smokes!

Make smoking cool again! Forget all this political correctness. Let’s make having pleasure okay again. Put the killjoys back in their caves! – Mark
Many thanks to Aaron Eckhart on Pinterest for this great photo.

By the way, smoking cigarettes is far less harmful to health than breathing in polluted air whilst walking down the street. And God only knows what the long-term health consequences of vaping are. And don’t get me even started on the legalization of cannabis for pleasure and recreation! If that is to be allowed, then smoking tobacco certainly should be allowed.

By the way, I write this as a non-smoker. I haven’t smoked a cigarette since April 10th, the day after my birthday. That is now more than six months ago.

Do I miss smoking? No, not really. Have I ever had a craving for a cigarette? No, certainly not. But do I have fond memories of the years I used to smoke daily? Certainly. I derived lots and lots of pleasure from cigarettes. I smoked only because I enjoyed smoking. I never was, nor did I ever feel, addicted to tobacco/nicotine.

But we are living in a Puritanical age, especially in the Anglosphere. The concept of joie de vivre is totally alien to most English-speakers. This is the sad reality of life today. – © Mark Alexander

Make Smoking Cool Again! It Really Is Anyway

The pleasure of smoking is undeniable. Take that pleasure away from people and it will be replaced by other pleasures which will almost certainly, in the long-run, prove to be even more injurious to health. Smoking is one of life’s true pleasures. For Christ’s sake, stop this war on smoking! Say 'NO' to this Neo-puritanical nonsense! – © Mark Alexander
With thanks to Pinterest for this delightful image.

Smoking Is So Sexy. Vaping Will Never Be Able to Replace It.

Many thanks to Pinterest for this great photo of this handsome smoker.
So let’s make smoking cool again! Let’s help put an end to this stupid war on smoking, smokers and pleasure! Many of the politicians are on drugs. A cigarette is harmless by comparison. Fie on these politicians! They want to take the joy out of life. Sie wollen dem Leben die Freude nehmen! Ils veulent retirer la joie de la vie !

Loneliness a Problem? You’re Never Alone with a Cigarette!

Slash taxes on cigarettes! Relax laws on smoking in public places! Make smoking cool again!

With many thanks to iva for this delightful photo.

Make Smoking Cool Again!

Sexy, pleasurable and cool.
Many thanks to Google Images for this great photo.

Make Smoking Cool Again! Especially with a Large Glass of Wine. | #shorts

The New Puritans are scraping fun from our lives! Katie Hopkins thinks these prudes should naff off (Katie’s vocabulary is rather more colourful!)
WARNING! Very strong language is used by Katie in this short!

The road to hell is paved with good intentions!

The Racial and Religious Hatred Bill now before the British Parliament marks a sad turning point in this tolerant nation's history. If passed, this free country, till now famed for its freedom of speech, will never be the same again! This bill is as dangerous as it is absurd!

Never in my lifetime have I lived through a period as dangerous as this one, never in my lifetime have I lived through a period of government so intrusive, never in my lifetime have I lived through a period of government so determined to rob the British of their hard-won liberty, and never in my lifetime have I been ruled by people so determined to coerce the majority to appease the minority!

Tony Blair is a Prime Minister like no other we have ever seen. In a short time, he is managing to change the landscape of British politics and the life of the average man in the street.

In my opinion, he will go down as the banning prime minister, since he is clearly intent on banning everything he dislikes or everything he thinks is bad for us. He is turning Britain into a nanny-state. Mrs Thatcher came to power to free up the people; Mr Blair, to place them in shackles!

He has banned smacking, fox-hunting, and much else besides. Further, he is going to ban smoking in all public places. And now he is bent on introducing the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill which will effectively take away our freedom of speech. This is quite unforgivable!

This Prime Miinister seems not to understand the true nature of the tolerant society he is governing. What he is doing to this country is not in the spirit of land. We have had a rich history of tolerance and even diversity. All other groups have managed to blend in. So why should the Muslims be any different? What is particularly galling is that he is doing this to appease the Muslims whose support he has lost because of his ill-fated war in Iraq.

I have said all along - actually for more than twenty years - that we are in grave danger of losing our own culture to mollify and appease the growing number of Muslims in this country. Received wisdom has long told us that immigrants should adopt the culture of the host country. This is in accord with the idea of when in Rome, do as the Romans do. It seems that the new way is for the 'Romans' to be forced to do as the immigrants do: the majority has to mend its ways to appease the minority. This is the nature of Blair's Britain.

This is a dangerous development. Moreover, there will be no end to the demands of the Muslim minority. They are a growing minority, and as this minority grows ever stronger, ever more demands will be made, since so much in our country, as in every other Western country, is potentially offensive to a Muslim: from pigs to wine, from the crucifix to the church bells! Are we eventually to ban everything offensive to Muslims?

This is all happening because we are being led by the weak! Surely, nobody could be weaker than Tony Blair! His premiership has the appearance of strength simply because he faces no real opposition in Parliament (the Conservatives continue to squabble among themselves); in actual fact, however, the reverse is true.

If Blair thinks that he is going to bring about racial harmony with this ill-conceived legislation, he is greatly mistaken. If anything, it will increase tensions between the communities, not minimize them.

Saturday night saw bad riots on the streets of England. Such riots will surely continue if he insists on making one racial group despise the other like this, setting one racial group against the other. The middle classes may well grin and bear it all; the working classes will not! Tolerance is the key to racial harmony. So tolerance must be fostered. What Blair and his administration are proposing will increase intolerance; so racial disharmony could well ensue.

Tony Blair came to power determined to make Britannia cool. He is in grave danger of making it hot, for as the proverb goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions; and we all know just how hot that place is!

©Mark Alexander