How could it ever be reasonably possible for an employer to comply with the provisions of this legislation when, at the same time, there is any form of legalisation of drugs?

Not to mention the effect on fertility count for some heavy users.

Marijuana is illegal in the Nederlands but the local authorities in Amsterdam choose not to apply the law under pressure from the marijuana drug barons who run the “coffee shops” – even so they are now tightening the screws because of the protests from the civilian population.

Malta should not learn that lesson the hard way.

In Amsterdam weed is sold openly and legally like tobacco, but only in the so-called coffee shops. It is also legal and sold in specialised establishments in the states of Colorado and Washington.

I think you’re confusing legalisation with decriminalisation. The latter simply means that the matter is treated as a heath issue rather than a criminal one. Legalisation means making it openly available to adult consumers.

[Daphne – I’m afraid you are rather confused. In Amsterdam cannabis is NOT sold like tobacco. It is sold in highly restricted circumstances. Washington and Colorado have nothing to do with your original argument, which claimed that cannabis is freely bought and sold in many countries ‘in Europe’. But it is not. Decriminalisation does not mean cannabis is treated ‘as a health issue’. It means that the sale or purchase or possession of cannabis, or all three, is not a criminal act. Nowhere in Europe is cannabis (still less heroin or cocaine) fully decriminalised. Trading in and cultivation of cannabis are serious crimes right across Europe. At most, you have decriminalisation of possession for personal use in a few European states, together with toleration of restricted sales in certain shops in one city, Amsterdam.]

Use of marijuana causes permanent damage to the brain after just a couple of smokes and is addictive too.

There are no soft drugs.

It is completely legal in Amsterdam and in two or three U.S. states. It is decriminalised in a dozen or so other European countries (including Italy, Belgium, Spain and Portugal), as well as Australia and Canada. In Switzerland, even cultivation is fully legal.

[Daphne – It cannot be ‘completely legal in Amsterdam’ because Amsterdam is not a federal state but a city. It is not ‘completely legal’ anywhere in the United States but completely illegal under federal law though possession for personal use is tolerated in Washington and Colorado. You are confusing decriminalisation of possession for personal use with decriminalisation of the drug itself, which would allow it to be sold openly, publicly and legally. Trading in or cultivating marijuana is a serious criminal act in Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Spain, contrary to what you say. Again, you are confusing possession for personal use with trade or removal of the drug from the scheduled list.]

The government wants its cut.
vimeo.com/81294883

[Daphne – Which ones, and which drugs in particular? Cannabis, the comparatively mildest of the lot, is legal nowhere in Europe, not even in the Netherlands, where it is merely ‘tolerated’ in certain circumstances in Amsterdam.]

It will be simply encouraging the use of drug mules carrying cocaine packets in their stomach, poppy harvesting in Afghanistan financing terrorist groups and endorsing the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta to carry on with building an empire stretching across the globe.

Holland reversed its laws, Amsterdam had become a dump, Switzerland did the same, closing down all coffee shops across the border to Italy.

We seem to forget the minister of the interior also happens to be legal consultant to some association having its business mostly in Paceville.

It will be the parting shot to English language schools.