Greece to pass bill, decriminalizing the use of marijuana | Hacker News Reader

Greece to pass bill, decriminalizing the use of marijuana

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17 pointsstagas19 comments

This headline is misleading.

As far as I can tell, this is in fact a draft of a bill which would decriminalise marijuana.

It has not been passed, and even if it eventually is passed (likely in a changed form), it will not make possession and sale legal.

There's been a rash of people in the last year that think 'to pass' somehow means 'might pass', when it doesn't actually. I've taken to ignoring anything they say.

They should legalize it, put a tax on it and use the money to help pay off their debts!

That might not work as well as we might wish. A substantial amount of spending in most first world economies results from spending money earned by illegal drug sales. (I don't have figures to quote. A pretty good book came out I think ~10 years ago that was about the contributions to various economies from spending as a result of criminal enterprise but I'm afraid I can't recall what it was called or find it on google now).

If you legalise and apply tax the government would see additional sales tax revenue but also a reduced corporation tax revenue.

I imagine they'd still be better off by a long shot because they'd likely spend less money fighting drugs related crime, and also because legalisation seems likely to increase consumption.

"reduced corporation tax revenue"

Since when do criminal gangs pay corporation tax?

I meant corporation tax revenue from businesses that gain income by selling stuff to people who are paying with drugs money.

edit: I'm not sure I'm explaining myself very well so let me just spell it out:

If it was legalised and taxed they would receive sales tax income (VAT or whatever they call it in greece), and probably additional tax income from likely "harmful substance" taxes (like those applied to alchohol, cigarettes, petrol etc). At the same time the folks who had been selling drugs illegally would lose income and thus reduce their own spending in the economy.

The result would be increased revenue for some businesses (who started legally selling the dope) and reduced revenue (& thus corporation tax) for all of the other businesses who didn't.

I'm skeptical about this talk of raising money from a marijuana tax. You might be able to raise a little money from taxes but it's incredibly easy to grow very high quality pot in your backyard or balcony, especially if you are blessed with a sunny climate. You can't really compare it to tobacco which is a lot fussier to prepare for consumption.

english article (no translation):

http://greece.greekreporter.com/2011/08/02/decriminalization...

I don't think legalised is the same thing as decriminalised.

Isn't it? What's the difference?

Short version? The penalty for a violation is a fine (like a parking ticket) and not a jail term.

It still illegal in order to comply with UN and other international treaties, but in practice it's not enforced.

At least here in Portugal, it means you still can't sell or buy it. It's just not a crime to possess small amounts or smoke it (I'm not sure if it's still punishable with a fine or not).

It's still a good step, since it doesn't get you a criminal record nor it clogs the courts, but it's not anything near to actually legalizing and regulating the sale and consumption.

A parking violation isn't a crime, either.

The terminology is fuzzy, for sure. Here's my perspective: the Netherlands is a good example of the difference. It's not a crime to buy, sell or use marijuana there, but it is illegal to produce it. Marijuana is thus "decriminalized, but not legalized".

OK, and how is this Hacker News material?

coz a lot of creative programmers happen to smoke too!!

Finally. Stop ruining everyone's lives by wasting tax payers' money on jailing marijuana users for doing something that never caused anyone any harm!

its a good step towards a 420 friendly world!!

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