[hans1729]

Wording: Germany will not legalise Cannabis. Maybe it will be decriminalized, but there is basically no chance of legalisation (too complex/expensive of a process).

I have no reason to trust the SPD that they will deliver on this, they are the infamous poster child for betrayal. They are the kind of party that would sell their entire voting base if it served the acting politicians individual careers.

If they will do it, then it will be leveraged to the max, right before the next critical election.

[Semaphor]

> Wording: Germany will not legalise Cannabis. Maybe it will be decriminalized, but there is basically no chance of legalisation (too complex/expensive of a process).

Source?

[hans1729]

I was told so from a credible source a couple years ago. What I can recall: legalisation would entail complex legal work, to a degree where that option is essentially not on the table. This is supported by the fact that "Legalisierung" is not part of the political language wrt topic, instead they refer to "Kontrollierte Abgabe" (~'controlled distribution').

[jabiko]

> I was told so from a credible source a couple years ago

I'm not sure if you have noticed it but there where elections last year and the new coalition that formed has the legalization of cannabis as one of its official goals. Your "credible sources" might have been right a few years ago, but the political landscape has changed.

> This is supported by the fact that "Legalisierung" is not part of the political language wrt topic

Of course it is. The expert consolidation which is part of the creation of new law has just concluded. Now the federal ministry of health will create a draft law and publish it by the end of the year.

[9dev]

Trouble is, nobody could bring the topic up right now without burning their career. Between Corona and Ukraine, trying to allocate time for the cannabis legalisation debate would simply be political suicide. And those topics will probably be present until (at least shortly before) the next election, which might see the rise of the CDU again, which will be the end of any cannabis debate whatsoever.

That is what a friend of mine working in the Bundestag said.

[shkkmo]

"Controlled distribution" is legalization. Nobody says that Utah has "decriminalized but not legalized" liquor even though it can only be bought in state run stores.

[andrewinardeer]

So just because it is complex it won't get done? That sounds rather defeatist to me.

[mschuster91]

That's how an awful lot of German politics works.

Source: am German, am pissed off beyond belief about a lot of things in politics, especially the lack of will to just move forward and do something instead of debating all day.

[cupofpython]

could be some trauma leftover from a previous time they just moved forward with political goals without fully understanding them.

That said, I am rooting for Germany. It is a relatively young nation overall, and has so many things going for it. I think it has potential to become the biggest European superpower over the next 20 years

[LeonidasXIV]

The entire german government is terminally defeatist. They've been dragging their feet on digitalization for so long, they've been dragging their feet on accessible internet for so long they've been dragging their feet on transport infrastructure, they've been dragging their feet basically everything for ages. You go to Eastern Europe and wonder how things seem to be progressing much faster there.

[yrgulation]

> You go to Eastern Europe and wonder how things seem to be progressing much faster there.

Is there a kind of fetish among germans to demonise east europe? Perhaps the recovery process after 45 years of communism is slow and takes time. And perhaps east europeans arent as inferior are a certain german ideology claims they are? Anyway pathetic analogy.

[mschuster91]

Agreed on the idiocy of the SPD ("wer hat uns verraten? Sozialdemokraten")... but this time, the Justice Ministry belongs to the FDP. They have alienated an awful lot of voters with their effective denial of reasonable covid measures, they'd be completely done for if they would not manage to get cannabis legal-ish enough that people can buy cannabis products in stores and smoke on the streets without fearing arrest.

We have elections in Bavaria and Hessen in 2023, the FDP will need at least something to show off, and cannabis is the easiest thing to pass, particularly as the Greens and parts of the SPD have long fought for it.

[hans1729]

advocatus diaboli: the FDP has a long track record of advocating for legalisation and then voting against it or abstain in parliamentary elections. Their core clientel are small business owners and (other) anti-regulation folk, I strongly doubt that they lose big margins of voters due to their covid policy, maybe even the opposite is the case.

Point being: if the FDP is the reason to have faith in this, I'm not feeling much more confident than before.

[2-718-281-828]

> They have alienated an awful lot of voters with their effective denial of reasonable covid measures

they also won a number of sympathizers ... and "reasonable measures" - what a funny moment to write that nonsense.

[mschuster91]

> they also won a number of sympathizers

LOL, they lost massively in all elections since the Bundestagswahl - mostly because of their disastrous performance during covid, with NRW's education minister Gebauer being the most obvious example. They may have gained some people from the AfD, but lost so much more instead.

Basically the FDP is now learning the hard way what Söder's CSU learned after the clusterfuck in the 2018 Bavarian elections: copying the far-right and ultra-libertarian demands may earn you some votes from there, but alienate so much more of the moderate vote that it can even threaten your existence.

Germany is not the US - ultra-libertarian attitudes may give you applause from Twitter crowds but not from voters.

> and "reasonable measures" - what a funny moment to write that nonsense.

The FDP vetoed anything to reasonably deal with the pandemic - they were the reason tests were cut down, they are even opposed to mask mandates, and forget about a vaccination mandate.

[2-718-281-828]

every region can declare itself a hotspot and make masks mandatory. beyond that they don't serve any purpose except being a nuisance.

[coffeebeanHH]

Yes, but... Basically other parties aren't that different. In the end it doesn't matter which color of the rainbow, or black, is going to fuck the people.

[hans1729]

The SPD brands itself as social, pro worker, peaceful, pragmatic and economically-focused all at the same time. They woo young voters, while their core clientel is >65. They actively make policy that works against the youth (serving their main voters, which are old), while presenting themselves as the good guys to the youth.

From my point of view, this makes them pure evil, much more so than the other parties. Yes, all the parties play the power game, but not all of them have the insane level of audacity that the SPD demonstrates again and again, in every election since I'm old enough to pay attention.

[solarkraft]

I know few young people who take them that seriously. My sentiment of them being a "CDU lite" (much more conservative and much less social than they act, generally not very progressive) appears to be widely shared.

In their defense: They are the lesser evil. Which seems to basically be all that they run on nowadays (it's how Scholz became chancellor).

[sgift]

Which anti-youth policies do you specifically have in mind here? The SPD has done various things which were e.g. actively harmful for workers, but I don't really remember something which could be thought of as against the youth.

[coffeebeanHH]

> since I'm old enough to pay attention First of all... Hhhhh I like that!

Yes I agree that the socialists lift themself way higher that they should. I think the age of their politics and voters is an effect of inheritance over decades. But it's still not a thing only the socialists have. The right wing sort of has the same. Specially the christians. I wouldn't even say it's a very evil thing. There are young people that are interested in politics, that's good and important. But it's by far not the most of them. I agree that it's not very smart to pretend to be a youngster or doing politics for the future generations while not even asking them what they want and need or stepping aside to let them fix their problems on their own.

And honestly Scholz is very suspect and unsympathetic to me. He seemed wrong when he was major of hamburg and still I don't trust him a dime. He literally is the result of being the least garbage. At least in what the public can see. But still I don't see how the others are much different from fooling the people. The christians are corrupt, afd is a nazi party based on denial. The "democrats" only care about their own wealth. Green has internal issues with their concurring members and the deep red just burried themselves over the last years and is in huge inner conflicts as well.

None of them has the motivation or will to change. It's just about getting the votes to talk bad about others and don't change a shit. Would be good to do a 80% flush. Get new and young politicians in the parliament and keep a fifth of the old ones to show the new ones around and explain how some stuff works.

[numerik_meister]

I could make a very strong similar argument for the Greens. They are basically light-conservatives, but they brand themselves on the left side of the spectrum.

[romanovcode]

> Maybe it will be decriminalized

I don't know where you are from Germany but cannabis is pretty much decriminalized in Berlin already for quite some time. People buy/smoke at the streets and police does not mind.

[abbbi]

still, you will lose your drivers license. I dont care if it is decriminalized, if i get pulled over and lose my license becuause i used to smoke 4 days ago, theres something wrong. I think this is one of the biggest hurdles to overcome: how to deal with cosumption in regards to roadworthiness

[romanovcode]

True, I know a guy from Berlin who had exactly same situation. I wonder if you can call a lawyer and refuse to give your hair/urine in this case.

[gallexme]

If you refuse, then you under arrest and get driven to the police station where a Amtsarzt(approved police office doctor) will draw your blood and check if you are roadworthy

[MaKey]

The police can do that - however, they need reasonable suspicion for it. I have refused to be tested for alcohol successfully in the past. I didn't drink anything, I just don't like such tests being routinely used when there is no indication that alcohol or drugs were consumed.

[gallexme]

I wonder if that only works on checkpoints/ places where masses of vehicle get checked, I don't think it would work if you the only one getting pulled out(atleast ime in Baden-Württemberg), drinking suspicions haven't been more than "have u had smth to drink? "+l and if suspicion is high enough a "where have you been/where you going to ", never breathalyzers

But cannabis, wrong hair style+ couple younger people in car= did u smoke? "No "well we will make sure of that ourself"

[hansel_der]

whataboutism:

friend of mine lost his drivers license in berlin because he drove A FKN BIKE under influence of alcohol (he was still quite in control and did nothing wrong).

[romanovcode]

That is normal and by the book, this law applies in all of EU AFAIK.

[hansel_der]

but its kinda selective punishement over people without a drivers license

[hans1729]

>Roadworthiness or streetworthiness is a property or ability of a car, bus, truck or any kind of automobile to be in a suitable operating condition or meeting acceptable standards for safe driving and transport of people, baggage or cargo in roads or streets, being therefore street-legal.

TIL ;)

[hans1729]

I am. Berlin and Germany are in a special relationship, I'll leave colorful elaborations to others :-)

[maxhille]

AFAIK (from Hamburg) Cannabis is decriminalized everywhere except Bavaria.