Meanwhile, back home on the Bast in Ewropa ranch…
The Press Association (PA) reported two days ago:
Amsterdam has won court permission to ban marijuana cafes in its famous Red Light district, stepping up a crackdown on the city’s freewheeling lifestyle.
Marijuana is technically illegal in the Netherlands, but possession of small amounts is not prosecuted and it is sold openly in ‘coffee shops’.
Prostitution is legal. But mayor Eberhard van der Laan argues the district’s brothels and coffee shops generate criminality, and he has sought to have many closed.
Coffee shop owners argued that laws were being selectively enforced against them.
In a ruling published yesterday, the Amsterdam District Court sided with the mayor, saying he “has the freedom to carry out policies he considers desirable to protect public order”.
The city has shut 192 out of 482 brothels where prostitutes work behind windows in the Red Light district since 2006, or around 40 per cent of the total – after winning court support for its argument that the high concentration of brothels made them hard to regulate.
The plan for coffee shops is to close 26 out of the 76 now in business.
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http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140425/world/Lethal-damage-to-the-heart.516369
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140425/world/California-Bill-to-curb-medical-marijuana-passes-key-hurdle.516370
In Colorado, where the trade and possession of marijuana became legal, ten year-old children discovered the benefit of easy money from the trading.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/colorado-fourth-graders-busted-buying-selling-weed-school-day-article-1.1766850
That’s nothing new.
A contemporary of mine was expelled from at least one (church) school at the age of 12 not for drug possession, but for drug DEALING at school, and this in 1979, in Malta.
.
The Labour government has not issued any information as to how people are going to access drugs legally. Will business people be able to obtain a drug outlets licence, or would users still have to rely on peddlers?
Isn’t this like stealing cigarettes from mummy’s hand bag or stealing a bottle of Jim from the alcohol cabinet?
Are you suggesting that we should make them both illegal?
Jim?
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/court_and_police/38369/court_notifications_to_be_sent_by_email_
Ahem.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/business/business_news/38363/private_firm_files_protest_against_transport_malta_direct_order
‘….Transport Malta chief executive James Piscopo had confirmed with MaltaToday that Melita was directly awarded the permit “because this was an immediate, realisable opportunity that ought not to be missed.”….’
‘….MaltaToday is informed the permit for the superyacht facility, which will be situated at the Outer Coal Wharf in Kordin, was awarded to entrepreneur Pierre Balzan, who only last month registered a new company, Melita Shipyard Ltd…’
How absolutely convenient.
Either Godfrey Farrugia’s lying or he isn’t.
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-04-25/news/pm-avoids-answering-question-onpossible-mita-conflict-of-interest-4749950976/
‘…This week, Dr Farrugia confirmed with The Malta Independent that he had handed over his tablet to MITA, the Malta Information Technology Agency, in order for the agency to investigate the incident….’
‘…To this, Dr Muscat replied that after this newspaper published the story, MITA asked Dr Farrugia to hand over his tablet, which according to Dr Muscat, the former minister had not done so….’
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/38379/deficit_to_explode_in_2014_says_pn
‘…NSO statistics show that the deficit between January and March 2014 amounted to €225.6 million, an increase of €58.1 million when compared with corresponding period last year, while in addition, recurrent revenue and expenditure increased by €41.3 million and €99.4 million respectively….’
That’s your first three months this year.
Last year was Labour’s first year with a Nationalist budget, and if Muscat must blame the PN’s final three months for the 300million registered last year, perhaps he should be reminded that by defeating Fenech’s budget to bring Lawrence Gonzi down meant those same last three months were blocked to tax revenue.
This individual’s dangerous with finances, he’ll spin, lie and cheat the figures.
Meanwhile, in parochial Malta, http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140426/local/priest-transferred-after-he-joined-banned-procession.516452 .
A big thank you to Alfred Sant is in order.
“Joseph Muscat recalled that it had been Alfred Sant who in 1992 had encouraged him to join the PL. “Some time after Alfred Sant became PL leader in 1992, I addressed a general conference of the PL in which I criticised those aspects of the party which I disliked. On that occasion, there were many who disagreed with me and I told myself that my stay within the party wouldn’t be a long one. But then two days later, in that same conference, Alfred Sant congratulated me publicly about my speech and encouraged me to participate in the party’s activities… I’m grateful to Alfred Sant for had it not been for his backing, I would have given up on politics. ”
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-04-26/news/alfred-sant-would-do-us-proud-joseph-muscat-4757061632/
http://maltarightnow.com/news/2014/04/25/muscat-jerga-jaghzel-lil-tal-qalba-2/
They keep coming.
Daphne, the government has to strike a balance between decriminalising possession of small amounts of soft drugs and the harsh penalties of destroying a man’s life for possession of a joint.
What is your opinion about this? What should happen to young men found with a joint for personal use?
[Daphne – There are no harsh penalties for young people found in possession of a joint. That is a myth. There are not even any harsh penalties for anyone found in possession of illegal drugs for personal use. The harsh penalties are for dealers. Daniel Holmes, for instead, was a dealer.]
“There are harsh penalties for dealers”: if they happen to be foreign and have no one to back them.
…or make big cash contribution. Some lawyers enjoy keeping cash at home.
I think you know the difference between legalisation and decriminalisation. I understand the government proposal does not concern the former. However the exact details of this proposal have not yet been divulged.
Some argue that drug users are victims and should not be subject to criminal procedures and punishments. However decriminalisation sends the wrong message, that the taking of drugs can be acceptable. I think that first time drug users should be fined or sent to rehabilitation but not imprisoned. Nevertheless drug abuse should still be a criminal offence.
I also think that while state and church do much to help drug users kick their habit, prevention programmes are lacking or insufficient.
http://carmelcacopardo.wordpress.com/2014/04/20/decizjoni-hazina-li-hadd-mhu-ser-jinsa/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBzb7Ce3PtQ
With an open and legal marijuana market, one also needs to look at this new phenomenon: fake pot. Children are the primary victims of this new innovation in the market.
Given Malta’s extremely close connections with China, where everything deemed as fake is being manufactured without any standards and controls, it will only be a matter of time before the fake pot makes it to the Maltese market.
Then we will be truly liberal and modern and the best in Europe.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2012/03/22/synthetic-marijuana-on-the-rise-sending-kids-to-er/#./?&_suid=139852065405707773011332698093
http://fusion.net/Culture/video/rise-dangers-fake-pot-584107