Netherlands - USA: How does D.C. compare with Amsterdam when it comes to the use of Marijuana

Initiative 71 became law in Washington, D.C

Recently initiative 71 became law,in Washington, D.C.,  legalizing marijuna under certain circumstances.

Commemorating this fact Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said that the District will not become “like Amsterdam,” as though being “like Amsterdam” would be a bad thing. City Hall even refers to Amsterdam in their official Q&A.

To give the people of Washington, D.C. and hopefully also their mayor an educated view of how D.C. compares to Amsterdam, the Netherlands Embassy in Washington offered this Q&A about Dutch marijuana laws and policies and an infographic.

• 1. What are the differences between Washington, D.C., and Dutch law on the possession of marijuana?
• 2. Are there any differences between how each handles the selling of marijuana?
• 3. Can anyone traveling to the Netherlands consume marijuana in a coffee shop?
• 4. But in Amsterdam, it’s legal to possess, grow and sell marijuana, isn’t it?
• 5. So the Dutch consume larger quantities of marijuana than Americans, right?

See how Washington, D.C. and Amsterdam compare to one another in  this infographic.

1. What are the differences between Washington, D.C., and Dutch law on the possession of marijuana?
In Washington, D.C., under initiative 71 it is legal for any person over 21 to:

• Possess marijuana weighing 2 oz. or less;
• Grow no more than 6 cannabis plants (<3 being mature) per person or no more than 12 plants (<6 mature) per house or rental unit.

In the Netherlands, it is illegal to possess (and grow, prepare, process, sell, deliver, distribute and transport) marijuana. However, the Dutch police and public prosecutors have designated the following cases (for persons 18 years or older) as a low-enforcement priority:

• Possession up to 5 grams (0.176 oz.) of marijuana;
• Growing of a maximum of 5 cannabis plants for personal consumption in a single household.

2. Are there any differences between how each handles the selling of marijuana?

Because of Congressional interference, D.C. can’t enact any regulatory framework for the sale or taxation of marijuana. So the sale of marijuana is illegal. However, it is permitted to give (without remuneration) less than 1 oz. to another person over 21.

In the Netherlands, the prohibition on the sale of marijuana will not be enforced by the police only if it is sold in a licensed coffee shop to persons 18 or older and the following criteria are met:

• No more than 5 grams of marijuana can be bought per person per day;
• The total supply of a coffee shop can be no more than 500 grams (17.6 oz.) at any given time;
• No alcohol can be served in coffee shops;
• Minors are not allowed inside coffee shops;
• It is forbidden to advertise marijuana or other drugs;
• No nuisance is tolerated in/around coffee shops. 

The sale of marijuana in any other circumstance will be prosecuted.

3. Can anyone traveling to the Netherlands consume marijuana in a coffee shop? 

No, since 2013 the sale of marijuana in coffee shops is only permitted to residents of the Netherlands aged 18 years or older. The primary reason behind this new law was the nuisance of drug tourism in the provinces bordering Germany and Belgium. However, local governments have the authority to designate a level of priority to the enforcement of this law. As a consequence, in the provinces bordering Germany and Belgium there is a higher enforcement priority than in a few cities, like Amsterdam and Rotterdam.

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4. But in Amsterdam, it’s legal to possess, grow and sell marijuana, isn’t it?

No, as explained in Question 1, Dutch law applies everywhere in the Netherlands, and Amsterdam is no exception.

5. So the Dutch consume larger quantities of marijuana than Americans, right?

Not quite, the lifetime rate of marijuana consumption for ages 15-64 in the Netherlands is 25.7% compared to 41.5% in the US.

Lets hope Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser puts this information in his pipe and smokes it.

Click here to learn more about the Dutch government's laws and policies regarding drug use

EU-Digest

EU - Madonna attacks intolerance and says Europe ‘feels like Nazi Germany’

Madonna has lashed out at intolerance in Europe, saying it is now so high in France and across the continent that “it feels like Nazi Germany”.

Speaking to French radio station Europe 1 in an interview to be aired on Friday morning, Madonna said “antisemitism is at an all-time high” in France and elsewhere in Europe, and likened the atmosphere to the period when German fascism was on the ascent.

“We’re living in crazy times,” the 56-year-old singer said, calling the situation “scary,” and lamenting what she described as France’s lost tradition of welcoming diversity and honouring freedom.

“It was a country that embraced everyone and encouraged freedom in every way, shape or form – artistic expression of freedom,” Madonna said. “Now that’s completely gone.

“France was once a country that accepted people of colour, and was a place artists escaped to, whether it was Josephine Baker or Charlie Parker.”

In fact, Parker only visited France briefly to play concert engagements, and unlike jazz legends such as Bud Powell, Kenny Clarke and Dexter Gordon, never took up French residency.

The globally acclaimed entertainer also spoke out in 2012 when she denounced the rise of xenophobia and extreme-right parties in Europe.

She said her earlier comments were made when “I was receiving a lot of criticism and threats from Marine Le Pen” and her National Front party, which Madonna described as “fascist”.

Read more:: Madonna attacks intolerance and says Europe ‘feels like Nazi Germany’ | World news | The Guardian

Terrorism:"Jihadi John’ Whose Real Name is Mohammed Emwazi Wanted Dead or Alive

Wanted Mohammed Emwazi alias Jihadi John dead or alive

The world knows him as “Jihadi John,” the masked man with a British accent who has beheaded several hostages held by the Islamic State and who taunts audiences in videos circulated widely online.

But his real name, according to friends and others familiar with his case, is Mohammed Emwazi, a Briton from a well-to-do family who grew up in West London and graduated from college with a degree in computer programming.
 dead or alive.

He is believed to have traveled to Syria around 2012 and to have later joined the Islamic State, the group whose barbarity he has come to symbolize.

 The families of hostages killed by ISIL have been reacting to the naming of a British militant who fronted some of the beheading videos.

Will Mohammed Emwazi be killed, captured by the people chasing him or has his discovery become a liability for ISIS who will execute him themselves - or is this all a hoax - lets not hope so.

Some are calling for Mohammed Emwazi, known as Jihadi John, to be caught alive to face justice.

The Kuwaiti-born man first appeared in a video in 2013 showing the murder of US journalist James Foley.

The victim’s mother, Diane Foley, told reporters: “He (Emwazi) did have the benefits of a comfortable upbringing and yet he’s using gifts and talents for such hatred and brutality.”

EU-Digest

Global Economy: Globalisation And Technology Drive Insecurity - by Paul Sweeney

People are insecure. Young people worry about getting a decent job, finding a secure home and having to pay off the vast debts run up in the decade of uber-liberal economic policies of European governments to 2007.

Elderly people worry about their security in old age, access to decent health care, about their children getting jobs or being forced to emigrate.

A recent Eurofound study concluded that 14% of jobs in Europe are high-paid good jobs; 37% are well-balanced good jobs; 29% are poorly balanced jobs; and 20% are poor quality jobs. Thus almost half of all those at work are not in good jobs.

Yet we have never had such high incomes or wealth. This is in spite of the six years of the Great Recession. Total national income is substantially higher than what it was a generation ago. Yet only a generation ago too, jobs and pensions were more secure, homes were easier to find and health care was not such a big worry.

What has led to today’s insecurity? The big drivers of insecurity are globalisation and technology. They have shifted low skilled jobs and now even middle income jobs offshore, created intense competition, change and uncertainty. They give great power to large corporations, while undermining the power of states and of organised labour. Crucially, they have also changed the nature of politics.

Globalisation and technology have been key drivers in the three-decade-long (a generation) decline in the share of national income of workers and the self-employed and its corresponding shift to wealthy people and corporations A few countries like Ireland witnessed the boom of catching up with the rest of Europe for 20 years, when overall earnings rose so the seismic shift in income was not so evident, but thanks to the Great Recession, it now is.

Both globalisation and technology have reduced labour’s bargaining power through offshoring, through sectoral shifts in employment from manufacturing to services, from large units to smaller ones and to autonomous, self-employed working. It has facilitated the massive decline in corporate governance – in the way firms are run and what their objectives are. It boosted the pay of the elite to extraordinary levels that have nothing to do with performance. Both have also facilitated financialisation – where finance rules the real economy.

Globalisation has also reduced financial disclosure, blurring our knowledge of the real ownership and control of business. It has led to the privatisation of swathes of public services, and these privatised public services are increasingly run by big, non-competing oligopolies. It has facilitated increased tax evasion and tax avoidance on unprecedented scales by the wealthy and by large companies. The Luxleaks and HSBC exposures are only the tip of this iceberg of tax cheating on an industrial scale in some countries.

Read more: How Globalisation And Technology Drive Insecurity

Corporate Tax Evasion: Activists look to take bite out of McDonalds for EU tax avoidance - by Obert Hackwill

America’s fast food giant McDonalds is being accused of setting up an elaborate tax avoidance scheme.

Labour unions backed by the War on Want charity have asked the European Commission to expand an existing investigation into Fiat and Amazon to include the burger chain, and look into where more than a billion euros of unclaimed tax went between 2009 and 2013. They say revenues were routed through low-tax Luxembourg, making royalty payments to a subsidiary.

“More and more companies do it, it’s becoming almost impossible to supervise the companies, while millions of citizens have to pay their taxes everywhere,” says the European Union Public Services’ Federation’s Pablo Sanchez.

McDonalds insists its actions have respected existing legislation and that it has done nothing wrong. The fast-food firm adds its tax bill last year in France alone was over a billion euros.

Read more: Activists look to take bite out of McDonalds for EU tax avoidance | euronews, world news

Spanish Economy: Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy talks up economic recovery in state of the nation address

Spain’s Prime Minister, gave his annual state of the nation address to the lower house of Spain’s Parliament.

Two thousand and fifteen is a critical year for the prime minister and his centre right People’s Party.

There is a general election in December preceded by local and regional polls in the spring. The electioneering it would appear has got underway.

Read more: Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy talks up economic recovery in state of the nation addresss

Israel: Leaked documents allege Israel PM and Mossad differ on Iran

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the United Nations in 2012, in which he warned Iran was a year away from being able to make a nuclear bomb is at odds with his intelligence service.

The apparent difference of opinion has been highlighted in documents leaked to the television channel Al Jazeera.

Showing a sketch of a bomb to UN delegates the Israeli PM called on the world to draw a “clear red line” over Iran’s nuclear programme to make it back down.

The Mossad leaked document stated Iran was not performing the activity necessary to produce weapons.
An Israeli official said there was, “no discrepancy” between the accounts.

Read more: Leaked documents allege Israel PM and Mossad differ on Iran | euronews, world news