Berlin Set to Relax Cannabis Laws

[SPIEGEL_Eric]

Berlin's top health administrator is set to further relax the city's cannabis-possession laws, which would make it legal for individuals to posses up to 15 grams (0.5 ounces) of the drug.

Does the current trend of decriminalizing possession of certain amounts of so-called soft drugs help combat illegal drug activity and promote safer usage?

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...695215,00.html

[meikrizzo]

Originally Posted by SPIEGEL_Eric

Berlin's top health administrator is set to further relax the city's cannabis-possession laws, which would make it legal for individuals to posses up to 15 grams (0.5 ounces) of the drug.

Does the current trend of decriminalizing possession of certain amounts of so-called soft drugs help combat illegal drug activity and promote safer usage?

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...695215,00.html

No matter what the indiscretion, criminal sanctions should
be reserved for those hard cases that should be removed
from being a relevant concern to those in our midst for
whom we must have utmost care. For the remainder such
tactics are no better than what would be practiced by
those beings that would be aliens to our spirit here
- and only then are such tactics understood for what
they are - a saboteur lacking in merit or other means to
achieve an end with dubious moral validity. That especially
goes for prostitution which should be "none of the affair"
of the State - equally as is possession of an amount of
cannabis that is clearly meant only to entertain - although
I doubt it has merit for people of intelligent minds
ultimately - myself. Prostitution on the other hand
is a valid way to meet a need in civilized society
in all respects certainly I say! Michael Rizzo Chessmann

[desertmole]

Originally Posted by meikrizzo

No matter what the indiscretion, criminal sanctions should
be reserved for those hard cases that should be removed
from being a relevant concern to those in our midst for
whom we must have utmost care. For the remainder such
tactics are no better than what would be practiced by
those beings that would be aliens to our spirit here
- and only then are such tactics understood for what
they are - a saboteur lacking in merit or other means to
achieve an end with dubious moral validity. That especially
goes for prostitution which should be "none of the affair"
of the State - equally as is possession of an amount of
cannabis that is clearly meant only to entertain - although
I doubt it has merit for people of intelligent minds
ultimately - myself. Prostitution on the other hand
is a valid way to meet a need in civilized society
in all respects certainly I say! Michael Rizzo Chessmann

I would suggest you rather take another line from the table with your long nose and don´t talk so much rubbish. How many prostitutes do you have on the street and how many of them are doing their job volunterly, or are underaged, how many kids are already dependent on drugs because it´s so easy to get them and how many of the kids have to go into prostitution to get them, thats thick man.
I like Europe drug and prostitution free.

[rqsulfates]

I just come here and see.

[weiß_löwe]

Originally Posted by meikrizzo

No matter what the indiscretion, criminal sanctions should
be reserved for those hard cases that should be removed
from being a relevant concern to those in our midst for
whom we must have utmost care. For the remainder such
tactics are no better than what would be practiced by
those beings that would be aliens to our spirit here
- and only then are such tactics understood for what
they are - a saboteur lacking in merit or other means to
achieve an end with dubious moral validity. That especially
goes for prostitution which should be "none of the affair"
of the State - equally as is possession of an amount of
cannabis that is clearly meant only to entertain - although
I doubt it has merit for people of intelligent minds
ultimately - myself. Prostitution on the other hand
is a valid way to meet a need in civilized society
in all respects certainly I say! Michael Rizzo Chessmann

Here in South Africa I seen weed lead people to harder narcotics such as speed and crack. I don't know if those people would have found the harder drugs if they never had weed but I do know that without the connections with the weed dealers they would have had no distribution network to buy from.

I sincerely doubt that most prostitutes do their jobs voluntarily. It seems to me like a very high risk career, considering that it potentially puts their child bearing ability at risk through sexually transmitted diseases every time they work.

[nevermind]

Originally Posted by desertmole

I would suggest you rather take another line from the table with your long nose and don´t talk so much rubbish. How many prostitutes do you have on the street and how many of them are doing their job volunterly, or are underaged, how many kids are already dependent on drugs because it´s so easy to get them and how many of the kids have to go into prostitution to get them, thats thick man.
I like Europe drug and prostitution free.

Well, all you have to do is shut yopur eyes and dream of it.
Prohibition never works, it is perpwetuating drug use at its worse, rather than having any c ontrol over trade quality or consumption at all.
Berliners do not have to be nannied, they can drink themselves to death and now, with this decriminalisation coming, they can be seen smiling at the drunks fighting in the gutters.

The worst drugs are legal -- sugar, alcohol, tobacco, caffeine. These are the subtle killers that really destroy society. Marijuana is light compared to them. Caffeine is one of the more destructive drugs that people take everyday without realizing it's effects. It constricts the heart, slows blood flow in the body and to the brain, causes muscle tension and physical pain (people dont even realize it, but their back pain, etc, is caused by caffeine!), and it pushes cortisol through the body, causing paranoia and possible psychosis reactions. And to top it off, people put sugar in it, which is a known cause of anxiety and emotional disturbances as well. Then at the end, they are dehydrated. Coffee is known to raise testosterone in men, which in turn causes hairloss. And then if you smoke cigarettes along with it, you are thinning your blood further and drying your skin out. Then if you are unlucky, you might even develop cancer. Then it is on to drinking every day or on the weekend!

I myself am completely straight-edge, not using any drug. I dont even eat normal bread very often, because I think it turns to sugar immediately in the body. I usually by Spelt bread, as it breaks down slower into sugar.

I still think caffeine is the worst for daily use and irony, as people drink it when it's cold outside, but coffee only makes you colder, as it slows down blood flow and clinches the heart.

[nevermind]

Originally Posted by desertmole

I would suggest you rather take another line from the table with your long nose and don´t talk so much rubbish. How many prostitutes do you have on the street and how many of them are doing their job volunterly, or are underaged, how many kids are already dependent on drugs because it´s so easy to get them and how many of the kids have to go into prostitution to get them, thats thick man.
I like Europe drug and prostitution free.

Cannabis fights cancer tumour cells chaps and your rants, after we spent some 100 billion on enforcing a drugs war that got us nowhere, indeed we knew it would proliferate drug use from our 1933 experiences. We had the CIA sponsoring and selling drugs to fund their covert operation and still nobody knows how many lorry loads of precursor chemicals have passed through Termez into Afghanmistan with NATO looking on. In Masari Sharif, Afghanistan never had a heroin production factory before the last war, a huge laboratory is operating some 600 meters from the German NATO base, so prohibition has nothing but proliferated drug use,mules and production.

Cannabis has far more beneficial uses than anything else, the talks of schizophrenia and 'gate way drug' is a load of rubbish, the first thing I smoked behind a bike shed was tobacco, nicotine, nothing else. Cannabis has shown to have multiple medical benefits and we should be introducing its use into our health services, as pain relief, to alleviate asthma, glaucoma, nausea after chemical cancer treatments and as a tumour reducing agent, not to speak as an appetite enhancing substance.

To go on and criminalise young future taxpayers is ludicrous and flaky, the reality shows that those states in the US who re- allowed cannabis as a medicinal prescription,have seen their economic prospects increase, not to speak of the other 55.000 uses for products from paper to oil to paints and much more. Grow up, mein Vaterland, see the potential.

[bonsai.jem@gmail.com]

Originally Posted by desertmole

I would suggest you rather take another line from the table with your long nose and don´t talk so much rubbish. How many prostitutes do you have on the street and how many of them are doing their job volunterly, or are underaged, how many kids are already dependent on drugs because it´s so easy to get them and how many of the kids have to go into prostitution to get them, thats thick man.
I like Europe drug and prostitution free.

You may prefer Europe drug and prostitution free, but I prefer it propaganda free. People spread opinion rather than fact these days. While you may not like it, your opinion shouldn't have a role to play in other peoples' lives. I don't like prostitution, but I don't feel a need to push my opinion in the way of others who can manage it properly. Nothing is inherently evil. People make it that way. With the proper monitors and regulation, much of what we call 'harmful' can be used for the greater good.

On a factual basis, Marijuana has no harmful effects and is no more addictive than alcohol. I've smoked marijuana, and I don't like how it makes me feel, but it is not inherently dangerous. Leaving its production to drug lords and criminals is dangerous Privately run businesses or government run production would provide ample revenue and a happy society.

I am (regrettably) an American, but born to German parents. I've forgotten which state (I'll repost when I find the article), but one of our states has managed to completely pay off it's federal debt and is actually profiting for the first time in decades solely off the tax revenue of medical marijuana and personal-use marijuana sales. The people there have learned that it is not an evil drug like the media portrays and that's where my argument comes in.

More people need to take the time and think for themselves rather than believe what the TV tells them. There is ample scientific data about the effects of marijuana and 9/10 times you find a study that finds evidence of marijuana having a negative effect you can look at the funding and fine that the grand majority (if not all the funding) of it came from the media and anti-drug groups.

It's depressing to me that ignorant people (I honestly mean no offense to you) like yourself still exist today. The cause of too many wars and deaths has been citizens trying to force their morals and ideals onto the world where they did not belong.

[unheilig-Fremde]

Good move, long overdue. Prohibition doesn't work. Drugs are a public health issue, not a criminal matter. Sell them like legal drugs (alcohol, tobacco, caffeine etc.) with taxes and regulation. Use the money to fund rehab clinics and harm prevention initiatives.