Polish Lawmaker Stands Up for Marijuana Rights
Earlier today, Polish lawmaker and philosopher Janusz Palikot announced that he was going to smoke a joint in Parliament to kick off a campaign to make marijuana possession legal in Poland. Right now, police have the choice of arresting people or simply ticketing them for possession of small amounts of marijuana. Palikot wants all penalties removed, and he is willing to walk the walk.
Don’t you wish we had politicians like this in the United States?
This plan did not sit well with fellow MP and speaker Ewa Kopacz, who immediately informed the prosecutor of Palikot’s plan.
That sounds a little more like what we’re used to over here.
The prosecutor’s reaction was also pretty familiar to those who have experienced the workings of marijuana prohibition. Even though the joint that Palikot ended up lighting was not even marijuana but some sort of cannabis incense (hopefully not the synthetic cannabinoids like K2 or Spice we’ve all been hearing so much about), he could be charged simply for talking about smoking real marijuana. Apparently in Poland, it is illegal to advertise or promote the substance, which the prosecutor alleges is what Palikot did today. He could face up to a year in prison for this act of political theater.
This sort of reaction definitely sounds familiar, and it came as no surprise to Palikot:
“I want to condemn the hypocrisy concerning marijuana consumption,” Palikot told reporters. “Someone said they would smoke a joint in parliament and the reaction was tantamount to someone announcing a coup d’etat.”
Poland is one of several European countries that are reviewing their drug laws and taking steps to soften their marijuana policies. Most recently, lawmakers in Copenhagen, Denmark introduced a bill that would allow for possession and sales of marijuana within certain areas of the city
Tagged with: cannabinoids and Copenhagen and coup and Denmark and Janusz Palikot and joint and K2 and lawmaker and marijuana and parliament and Poland and possession and Spice by the author
6 comments
Well, I am so sorry that Janusz Palikot muddled the issue by lighting a (probably 500-mg) “JOINT” rather than a 25-mg-serving-size vapetoke utensil, which would have made the point that moderate use is convenient and accessible.
As Derek Williams at UKCIA (that’s Cannabis Internet Activists) points out in his article, “TokePure”, the irony is that wasteful unhealthy hot burning overdose joints are “safer” because they are easier to hide, use up quickly, dispose of etc. before the cop or your mom catches you with one. And in the UK, as in much of Europe, a “joint” is widely understood to mean a joining of cannabis and tobacco in one roll-up– a major cause of nicotine addiction. (Comparable to the heavily promoted $igar-skin “blunt” over here.) So ironically the USA, which foisted genocidal tobackgo $igarette ad(-)diction on the world in the first place, now has LOWER rates than Europe (under 20% of adults and sinking as kids try cannabis instead).
Someone please tell Mr. Palikot that the shock on seeing a joint was really not much different than if he had smoked a
$igarette there, which is probably also forbidden and stinks a hell of a lot worse. If we want to see cannabis legalized, let’s put emphasis on banning the rude cruel threatening overdose Papers (for any herb) and creating a portable mini-toke industry that supplies billions of one-hitters to anyone anywhere who experiences a desire to inhale the Vapors of invention and creativity. Please visit wikiHow.com/Make Smoke Pipes from Everyday Objects, sign in, improve the text, add pictures, save lives and Liberty.
People open your eyes to this. Even if the DEA say today that marijuana is legal under federal law,it would still be illegal in the 34 states that don’t allow it. The states would need to make it legal also. SOoo the 34 states with twisted marijuana laws can, and probably will, still enforce states laws for marijuana… So don’t blame the feds anymore and start in your state. We have governments in our states for a reason. The reason the federal government is cracking down on manufacture and distribution is because the state officials have committed treason by failing to represent all of the people who elected them to enforce the state laws in the first place.
[...] Article originally appeared in the Marijuana Policy Project Blog [...]
If you live in Connecticut and want to end marijuana prohibition in our state, please take a minute to visit http://www.ctprimaryproject.com.
Please pass this on to anyone you know who live in Connecticut!
@pfroehlich2004- Great Job and please keep spreading the word.We the people will win this fight.
This is great. Unlike the United States were the DEA would meddle and try to make it fail or worse by invading a home by commandos who are politically protected by the U.S. Attorney.
Leave a Comment