German Politics Thread

Well, I don't mind as long as the government manages to avoid creating a situation like in the Netherlands where somehow drug gangs managed to get control over the supply market, and ended up becoming so powerful that they are now openly fighting with each other not completely unlike Mexico.

Also, is anyone willing to bet that we will not see a full lockdown in December?

Edited by Zarastro on Nov 19th 2021 at 1:44:13 PM

That’s the first I’ve heard on the Netherlands having drug gangs acting similar to Mexican ones. Got any further reading I can do on it?

The Slippery Dutch Slope from Drug Tolerance to Drug Terror

https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/narco-state-netherlands-the-slippery-dutch-slope-from-drug-tolerance-to-drug-terror-a-4c064859-9faf-495f-b1f7-c74900910568-amp

Is that what they call it now? Can't say I blame them.

But yeah, the drug gangs are getting worse. It's not quite Mexican drug cartel bad, but they are getting bolder.

Edited by Redmess on Nov 19th 2021 at 6:50:19 PM

Could it become bad enough that cannabis becomes prohibited again?

Probably not. If Mexican cartels won't stop the US from legalizing weed, it probably won't stop our government either.

'sides, are we sure that recriminalizing it would actually help?

Well, since the cannabis market has been hijacked by drug gangs then banning it again could cut off one of their income sources. It doesn’t have to be a permanent ban but at least it should last until the gangs situation is under control.

Edited by raziel365 on Nov 19th 2021 at 2:56:09 AM

From what I understand, the problem is not that it is legalized, but that it isn't legalized enough, ie, you cannot grow it legally, so there is a flourishing black market for growing and smuggling it.

[Selling cannabis is legal but not growing it] What? That's such a bad idea that I want to know who had it. Basically an open invitation for criminals.

That's weird

Don't most places do the reverse....

Where you can grow for your personal use but can't sell it.

Edited by miraculous on Nov 19th 2021 at 3:50:00 AM

Yeah it’s worth remembering that weed isn’t actually legal in the Netherlands outside of the licensed ‘Coffeeshops’, it’s just been decriminalised if you posses less than 5 grams and it’s for personal use.

I wonder how easy it would be to get the Dutch to actually legalize, regulate and tax like US states are doing?

In the US, the illegal growers are already getting pushed out by Big Cannabis.

There's a reason people are starting to call the Netherlands a narco state. It's not quite that bad...but it's bad.

The problem is not that the Netherlands is exporting weed, mind you. The problem is mainly importing and selling through of drugs though smuggling networks, who make good use of the country's position as trade hub.

So now that explain why they use nertherland drug dealers as the bigger bad guys in how to sell drug online(fast), I was a little bit confuse of why they were so ruthless.

Legalizing Mary Jane would not help much with the Netherlands narcos anyway. As that Spiegel article noted, they have moved on to nose candy (ie cocaine).

Edited by M84 on Nov 20th 2021 at 7:19:09 PM

Right, it's the drug smuggling in general that's causing the bigger problems, not specifically weed.

Something I am rather curious about is who our next health minister is going to be? Given the pandemic and the 4th wave we are in, this is a rather important position yet unlike the finance/interior/foreign ministry, there seems to be little public discussion about it. Karl Lauterbach would be the most qualified candidate, but he seems to have little support in his own party.

Whoever it will be, hopefully they'll be able (and willing) to actually tackle our long-standing nursing crisis as well.

The german Social democrats, Liberals and Greens have unveiled their coalition agreement. Seems like the new governement (under Scholz) will be in power in around two weeks with the election of the new chancellor pegged for the 6th of december.

It seems the coalitions agreement is actually quite progressive on social issues while more middle-of-the-road on economic topics.

The new german government will have 17 ministries:

By party: Social Democrats: Chancellor (Olaf Scholz); Home Office; Social Issues & Employment; Defense; Health; International Development; Minister to the Chancellery

Greens: Vice-Chancellor and Minister of Economy & Climate (Robert Habeck); Foreign; Family, Environment & Consumer Rights; Agriculture (+Nomination rights to the next European Commission)

Liberals: Finance (Christian Lindner); Education & Research; Justice; Transport & Digital Transformation

Edited by SlavetoTropes on Nov 24th 2021 at 7:15:07 AM

Also, there's a clause pointing towards European federalization.

If you have a while to kill, speak German, and hate yourself, you can read the entire coalition agreement here. But here's the relevant clause:

"The conference should lead to a constitutional convention (? check my translation please) and to the continuing development of a European federal state..."

It goes on to say that such a state should be decentralized, of course, but this is the first time a German government coalition has openly declared themselves in favor of European federalization. This is a big deal.

Edited by somerandomdude on Nov 24th 2021 at 11:09:14 AM

Interesting, looks like the important yet risky ministries all went to the SPD (Interior, Defense, Health).

Too bad that there is almosst zero chance of this happening, but still a nice gesture.

That's about what I'd expect from that coalition. The federalism platform is new though, and I like it.

Some of the LGBT+ goodies