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Luxembourg has called on its EU neighbours to relax their drug laws as its health minister confirmed plans to become the first European country to legalise cannabis production and consumption.
“This drug policy we had over the last 50 years did not work,” Etienne Schneider told Politico. “Forbidding everything made it just more interesting to young people … I’m hoping all of us will get a more open-minded attitude toward drugs.”
Residents over the age of 18 are expected to be able to buy the drug for recreational use legally within two years. The state will regulate production and distribution through a cannabis agency.
Draft legislation is expected to be unveiled later this year providing further detail on the types of cannabis that will be on sale and the level of tax that will be imposed.
Schneider said the legislation was likely to include a ban on non-residents buying cannabis in order to dissuade drug-tourism. Home-growing is also likely to be prohibited.
[...] In the Netherlands, possibly the European country most associated with a relaxed attitude toward the use of cannabis, its recreational use, possession and trade is technically illegal. It has a ‘tolerance policy’, or gedoogbeleid, under which recreational use is largely accepted within bounds.
Cannabis remains illegal to possess, grow, distribute, sell or grow in the UK. Those caught with the drug face a maximum of five years in prison, an unlimited fine or both. Several police forces have said they will no longer target recreational users and those with less than an ounce (28 grams) can be given a warning or on-the-spot fine.
Under the Netherlands’ gedoogbeleid, prosecutors turn a blind eye to the breaking of certain laws. Technically the possession, use and trade of the drug is illegal, but the authorities allow licensed coffee shops to sell cannabis from their premises, and to keep 500g on site at any time. The police turn a blind eye to those in possession of 5g or less. Because production remains illegal, however, cafes are often forced to do business with criminal gangs to source the drug.
The UK outlawed cannabis in 1928. Possession comes with a maximum of five years in prison, an unlimited fine or both. Those who are successfully prosecuted for producing and supplying the class-B drug face up to 14 years in prison, an unlimited fine or both. Police can issue an on-the-spot fine or a warning for those caught with less than an ounce if it is deemed for personal use, but several forces have said they will not target recreational users.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Saturday August 10 2019, @12:40PM (3 children)
Interesting, in many African countries police do this as well. In fact it's par for the course, particularly for traffic police. That's why you always drive with a certain amount of cash hidden in your car, to cover any "on-the-spot fines" that may arise.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by RamiK on Saturday August 10 2019, @02:35PM
In Asia and the Middle-East charity is an indistinguishable euphemism to bribing city inspectors and police officers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baksheesh [wikipedia.org]
Back in Lyndon Johnson's days the practice of meeting senators and congressmen with cash-stuffed enveloped was noted by multiple sources. It persisted in the form of contemporary lobbyists only getting heard over $200 bottles of wine and fine cigars being served in high-priced restaurants with an on-the-ready pre-signed check for campaign funds. In a not-so runabout way, the American judicial system is a bribery extortion racket. And lets not look too deeply into the people who go donating to the policemen gala...
If I had to guess, corruption in the forms of nepotism and bribery were always standard practice right up until to modern recording devices when it was necessary to fabricate legal frameworks to whitewash it.
compiling...
(Score: 2) by legont on Saturday August 10 2019, @10:53PM
In certain places one is supposed to stop at a police checkout point voluntarily and pay fines he believes reasonable for the speed limit and other violations he committed earlier in the day. Police check randomly and might be unhappy if the fine is not within acceptable limits for the violations.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 3, Informative) by TheRaven on Sunday August 11 2019, @10:20AM
sudo mod me up