It’s finally clicked where the push for the decriminalisation of (illegal) drug possession for personal use is coming from: Engerer father and son
The Labour Party’s news website, Maltastar, reported in July three years ago:
In his comments to Maltatoday, Chris Engerer said that it is public knowledge that he is a marijuana user. He said that the police also knew about his personal usage however they never stopped him or arrested him.
This is because they know that he is fiercely against the use of hardcore drugs, as before he settled down into his business he was a hard drugs user- however he managed to kick the habit and get on the right track. According to Mr. Engerer Snr, he has always been a marijuana user and has tried to quite but has not managed. He even tried to stop using marijuana when his son started his political career however he did not manage.
Chris Engerer told Maltatoday that he believes there is a huge difference between hard drugs and marijuana- and is in favor of the decriminalization of the soft-core drug. He also said that the police know for a fact that he does not tolerate hard drugs, such as cocaine, in his establishment.
Chris Engerer, the ramshackle junkie and committed pothead who ran the Exiles bar when I was 20 – I can’t actually say on the record that he was also a pusher at the time without back-up from police and court records – and Cyrus Engerer, the Burberry-check-bescarfed politician and College of Europe graduate, are so far apart in my mind that I fail to make any sort of mental connection between them even though I know they are father and son.
And this is why, when the Labour Party began pushing (sorry…) the message that the next step is the decriminalisation of possession of drugs for personal use, with particular emphasis on marijuana, I didn’t make the link.
I made the connection this morning when I listened to the prime minister say how Cyrus Engerer has convinced him about many, many things that he didn’t agree with before.
“The police know for a fact that he does not tolerate hard drugs in his establishment,” Chris Engerer is quoted as saying in Maltastar. How about the soft ones, then.
Chris Engerer has been known to the police for yonks. What a shame the Vice Squad – does it still exist? – can’t talk. Perhaps now Engerer Senior, under the guidance of Peter Paul Zammit ta’ Manuel Mallia, will finally be free of police scrutiny and can happily turn his bar into a marijuana den for teenagers under Joseph’s new laws.
And then we shall be in the wonderful position of having a politician with a hold on the prime minister, whose father the washed-up pothead and long-term junkie preaches the evils of cocaine and heroin while promoting the message that it’s OK to get hooked on marijuana.
If you think being hooked on marijuana is fine, and that marijuana used over a long period is harmless, just take a look at Chris Engerer and you’ll soon change your mind. He’s the poster boy for ‘wasted mess’.
This is the topsy-turvy situation to end them all: instead of a parent being worried about their son’s or daughter’s drug use and their being raided by the police, or concern that their child might turn into a junkie, we have a son (Cyrus) who has had to grow up with a junkie-cum-pothead for a father and contend with his father being regularly raided for drugs.
For God’s sake – can we remember what’s considered normal.
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http://www.maltastar.com/dart/20110725-cyrus-engerer-father-arrested-over-half-joint
The devil is in the detail.
So, I also comfortably deduce that it was Cyrus Engerer who pushed the idea of the gay adoptions. Let’s not forget that it was not an electoral pledge. Looks like he is a champion in convincing. But he did not convince his former friend!
I use cannabis and I am not a wasted mess.
In fact, several of my best ideas to improve and make the family business more profitable came to my mind while slightly stoned.
Speaking of a mess, I even clean up in the kitchen after my “let me cook some traditional Maltese dishes” marathons, so my wife will not be irate at me.
People can’t get their heads around the fact that weed is less addictive and less harmful than alcohol in general. Marijuana however has associated risks for people under 25, when the brain is still plastic. I know. I’ve done my research.
When you smoke marijuana, the most harmful part of it all is the smoke from the tobacco mixed in. That’s why I always vape or eat.
As with alcohol, what matters with marijuana is the amount you use and the frequency. It’s one thing to unwind in the evening with a couple of beers or some light weed, and quite another to drink a couple of bottles of wine a day or use marijuana morning, noon and night.
That is the problem with cannabis: you do not notice that you are a wasted mess.
Not so, If you live with your wife or girlfriend and she does not use it then they are usually very quick to tell you you are a wasted mess.
My wife does not use pot, but she rather see me pain free and slightly stoned than in pain.
I think people have been prejudiced against cannabis by watching too many Cheech and Chong movies.
They were just another version of Reefer Madness type propaganda set in a more modern decade.
I can’t wait to see what Cyrus’s iced bun will be now that he has had to desist from the EP rat race.
“He (Chris Engerer) also said that the police know for a fact that he does not tolerate hard drugs, such as cocaine, in his establishment”.
What does he expect, to be given a “Gieh ir-Republika”, because in his establishment he tolerates other drugs but not cocaine?
Touché
Don’t be surprised if he is
There is no doubt in what you have just written, Daphne. The announcement about the decriminalisation of ‘certain’ drugs was made too close to the gay-cum-adoption-marriage law.
Cyrus Engerer saw that law as his own personal victory; he wanted more and surely helped the PM to change his mind about many things.
Chris Engerer will be the first one in Malta to open a pot-bar after the law on decriminalisation is passed.
One more thing: Chris Engerer is lying when he says that he is against hard-core drugs. He was one of the first to start pushing cocaine in Malta in the Eighties.
Leggi ad personam.
Next, the removal of criminal charges for dangerous driving when ‘out of court’ settlement agreed to.
Then it will be the removal of criminal charges for tax evasion and VAT fraud.
Franco Debono is the equivalent of Nicolo’ Ghedini, whose defence of Berlusca found it necessary to have him ‘elected’ to senator.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re aiming for the removal of direct representation, introducing the nomination of politicians to parliament via party selection boards. Each party getting their share along proportional lines.
We’d have Silvio Scerri e bella compagnia in parliament answering to no one but the leader.
They’ll sell it as a measure to combat clientelism and corruption. Guess who blamed Carm Mifsud Bonnici for ignoring these reforms.
So if Rasputin Engerer convinces Emperor Joseph, consider it done.
Tghid pejpu joint flimkien Cyrus, missieru u Joseph?
‘HONOLULU – Marijuana export could pay off Hawaii’s debts, lawmaker says
She promised she hasn’t inhaled, but House Majority Floor Leader Rida Cabanilla is looking to marijuana to solve some of Hawaii financial troubles.
Cabanilla said she hopes to legalize cultivation, manufacturing and exporting of marijuana and marijuana food products in Hawaii to pay off the state’s billions of dollars in unfunded liabilities as well as make infrastructure repairs and fund public education and human services programs.
“This state would turn into a manufacturing state. Can you imagine factories that would be making ‘Maui Wowie’ cookies and making marijuana macadamia nut candy for export? I think that would be wonderful,” said Cabanilla, who represents Ewa Villages, Ewa Beach, Ewa Gentry, Ocean Pointe and West Loch.
Hawaii has some $25 billion in debts, encompassing the state retirement system, the public employee union health fund and outstanding bonds. The state also needs billions in repairs for roads, schools and infrastructure.
“I am not even a fan of it. But if that is what it takes for our state to be in the forefront where we can fix our roads, we can build more affordable housing, we can help the homeless — that is the route we should go,” she said.’
http://townsquareexiles.boards.net/thread/38641/export-hawaii-debts-lawmaker-says
Is it possible that after the passports project Joseph Muscat may be contemplating entering the marijuana market to support his spending sprees?
The Cookie Monster will be pleased to learn that one can even make marijuana cookies to dispense to reporters.
Exactly Daphne. It dawned to me before the prime minister uttered a word about how Cyrus Engerer convinced him about many, many things.
See my comment here:
http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2014/05/the-prime-minister-this-evening-cyrus-engerer-is-now-a-soldier-of-steel/