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Comment by dns_snek | Hacker News Reader

Nice one, Germany!

Is there anything blocking the rest of EU from legalizing cannabis in this manner, aside from internal (national) politics? Whenever this topic comes up in our country, it's always met with opposition claiming that it would be against the EU regulations, or international treaties, or some other external blocker that we can't control.

These reasons sound like a stall tactic given that a few EU countries have managed legalization thus far, but I'm not familiar with the relevant laws. Do they have any legitimacy to them?

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In my experience in Europe, the primary roadblock is the controlling moralistic conservatism exhibited by critics like those quoted in the article.

How about the horrible smell produced by those who smoke? It's super reckless to expose others to negative side-effects by somebody who can't control themselves and must smoke.

Edibles don't smell.

Tbf, the parent did specify smoking. However, to your point, legalisation will clearly make it more likely that alternative, less-smelly consumption methods become popular than prohibition.

It is already illegal to smoke indoors in most of Germany.

Disturbing others with smells is already against the law. There have been cases of renters getting kicked out for bothering nighbors with tobacco smoke. Some amount of smell is just part of life. I also have so smell disgusting (to me) food sometimes.

There are also restrictions where you can and can't smoke, like schools, playgrounds or sports fields.

I think it's reasonable to impose restrictions on "smell pollution", as much as it's reasonable to limit neighbors from playing loud music at night.

The good news is that vaporization doesn't smell as much (or linger as long) while being nearly equivalent in effects, and edibles don't smell at all. I think users and non-users should be able to coexist peacefully by making a couple of compromises.

It’s also super annoying getting on a bus after you read statistics claiming that 15% didn’t wash their hands and we keep getting on the bus anyway.

Newsflash. Not everyone who smokes „must smoke”. And trust me, in order to smoke responsibly you actually need a ton of self-control.

Do you find the smell of cigarettes less offensive? This is obviously a personal preference but personally I find that one much worse, and unlike with tobacco, I've never had to put my clothes in the laundry just because I stood next to a weed smoker for 5 minutes outdoors

Smoking indoors is illegal in most of the EU already. I personally find the smell of cannabis smoke lingers a lot longer than tobacco.

Quite right -- and ban Paco Rabanne

> How about the horrible smoke produced by those who drive cars? It's super reckless to expose others to negative side-effects by somebody who can't control themselves and must drive alone on the highway back and forth to work.

Or the fact that a big portion of the population is not in favor of legalization. The new law in Germany is controversial, too, and chances are high that the next government (to be elected late 2025, which is most probably shifting towards the right) is going to change/revoke this law, as they have already announced.

Didn't Germany have a way, way more ambitious plan at the beginning, basically the Canadian model with fully legalized sales, dispensaries etc. only for it to get shot down by the EU? So they backed down and ended up with this halfbaked compromise..

someone surely had that plan, but most stoners are just astonished and glad that something got done

Technically, both compatibility with EU law and international law is yet to be decided, with the international law incompatibility already being pretty obvious. In Germany, the latter incompatibility is not immediately problematic. This may be different for other countries. The former may still manifest insofar as lawsuits will be brought forward.

However, we're already pretty sure that the current change in law will require further tuning as issues become apparent. Still, you need to start somewhere.

It's not like Germany is the first country in the EU to do this. Malta and Luxembourg had already legalized possession and cultivation and it's basically legal in Spain too.

And "international law" seems like a joke at this point anyway (in general, but especially regarding weed). Canada went way further with no repercussions and more importantly the US which basically forced the 1988 Convention/treaty on the rest of the world is completely flaunting it itself.

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