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Chronicle AM: Colombia & Luxembourg Move on Marijuana Legalization, Oakland Cuts Marijuana Taxes, More... (5/23/19)

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #1068)

Oakland slashes pot taxes for small businesses, Colombia congressmembers plot a marijuana legalization bill, Luxembourg ministers outline their plans for marijuana legalization, and more.

Luxembourg Justice Quarter
Marijuana Policy

Oakland City Council Votes to Cut Marijuana Taxes for Small Businesses. In a bid to protect small marijuana businesses in the city, the City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to lower the gross receipts tax on marijuana businesses that make $500,000 or less a year. The current rate is 10%, one of the highest in the state; the new rate will by 0.12%, a dramatic reduction. Whether bigger pot businesses will get a tax cut, too, will be taken up by the Council next month.

Medical Marijuana

Texas Senate Unanimously Approves CBD Medical Marijuana Expansion Bill. In a surprise move, the Senate voted to approve HB 3703 Wednesday. The bill would expand the states limited Compassionate Use program to allow CBD cannabis oil to be used for a number of new specified disorders, including epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and autism. The bill now goes back to the House, where it has already passed, for changes to be approved or ironed out in conference committee.

International

Luxembourg Ministers Outline Proposals for Marijuana Legalization Bill. Justice Minister Feliz Braz and Health Minister Etienne Schneider have elaborated on the government's plans to legalize marijuana, which were announced in November. They said they plan to allow people 18 and older to possess up to 30 grams in public, while teens possessing less than five grams would not face charges. They also envision a strictly regulated marijuana market, with THC content limited. (THe limit is not set yet.) Also, only Luxembourg residents will be allowed to purchase marijuana there. They said they planned to present a preliminary bill to parliament by August.

Colombian Congress Preparing Marijuana Legalization Bill. Lawmakers from a wide range of parties have begun working on new legislation that would legalize the production and consumption of marijuana for recreational purposes. The initiative to legalize weed is led by opposition Senator Gustavo Bolivar (Humane Colombia) and would be coauthored by the opposition, the Liberal Party and lawmakers from center-right parties like Radical Change and the U Party. The 12 lawmakers working on the legislation plan to present the bill on July 20, the first day after summer recess.

Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

Comments

Dain Bramage (not verified)

It would be exceedingly foolish to bet the future of marijuana legalization on Traitor Trump and the Nazi Republicans.

Speaking of people Trump doesn't like -- take it from the Brits.  They don't like him either.  For example, Trump was banned from speaking at the UK parliament.  Why?

Nate White--an articulate & witty writer--proffered this written response:

"A few things spring to mind.

Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem.

For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.

So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.

Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever.

I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman.

But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.

Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers.

And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.

There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface.

Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront.

Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul.

And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist.

Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that.

He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat.

He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.

And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully.

That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a sniveling sidekick instead.

There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless - and he kicks them when they are down.

So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think 'Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:
* Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.
* You don't need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.

This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss.

After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum.

God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid.

He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart.

In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.

And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish:

'My God... what... have... I... created?

If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set."

 

Mon, 05/27/2019 - 11:21pm Permalink
Dain Bramage (not verified)

In reply to by Dain Bramage (not verified)

My own personal theory about Trump's incapacity for humor is that he made a pact with the devil, and as a provision of that contract, Trump cannot laugh.  Ever.

I'm kidding.  I don't believe in "supernatural" evil.

Just real evil, like Trump and the rest of the motherfucking baby-snatchers in the Republican party.

Wed, 05/29/2019 - 7:16am Permalink

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