Markus Söder knows no limits in his crusade against smoking marijuana. Will Bavaria accept this return of the authoritarian Prussian state?
Protest in front of the CSU state leadership building in Munich, April 1, 2024 Photo: Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa
“The Greens are a prohibition party. They lack the Bavarian gene.” (Markus Soder)
The year is 2024 AD. People smoke marijuana all over Germany. All of Germany? No! A state populated by stubborn beer drinkers continues to resist the release of cannabis.
Above all, the head of the federal state in question, Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU), has apparently made it his top priority to make the good news from Berlin as salty as possible for those who like to smoke marijuana among their children. : The cannabis law will be applied in an “extremely restrictive” way to “those who smoke marijuana, if they want, must do so somewhere else.”
“In another place” means: under threat of a fine of between 500 and 1,000 euros, not near schools or playgrounds, not in the pedestrian zone, not at folklore festivals, not in open-air restaurants, not in open-air swimming pools , not in leisure places, parks, not in tourist attractions, not in parks like the English Garden.
No, no, not with my niece. It is likely that exceptions will soon be expanded to such an extent that the exception becomes the rule, that is, prohibited. All. Everywhere. What does it matter to federal law if federalism allows gender discrimination, smoking marijuana, protesting, and everything else that makes sense or is fun (and therefore makes sense) to be prevented to the extent possible by the Legislative backdoor?
Like a heated Leberkas
Even henchmen who do not suspect the proximity of stoners, such as the Minister of the Interior, Joachim Herrmann (CSU), or the president of the German police union (DPolG), Jürgen Köhnlein, complain in the media about the poor viability of this task. Personal fault, Sisyphus was not a good police officer.
But public safety be damned as soon as cloying clouds threaten to cover the smell of beer vomit. Söder's ambition is obviously to bend the federal laws to such an extent that he barely breaks them, and if he does, oops, sorry, but probably the law was not as stable as the Bavarian laws, for example, the good laws, the laws police. , as hard as a beer mug and as durable as a heated Leberkas.
Of course, compliance with the law must be monitored to the letter. Currently, the Bavarian border police are seizing more and more cannabis plants imported from Austria (where THC consumption is still illegal, although it is allowed to grow the plant until it flowers). In Germany, partial legalization allows the cultivation, possession and use of up to three hemp plants, but the import of finished young plants remains prohibited.
You don't have to understand that because you can't understand it. The publication, which is based on a patchwork of half-baked practical procedures and vaguely planned special rules for the protection of minors, already seems confusing and meaningless at the federal level. You would almost think that notorious abusers were at the forefront of all of these unwise, half-baked, misguided, and full-blown decisions.
An anti-stoner path
The Bavarians are now rushing to fill these numerous gaps in the legal situation (for example, there is currently no national catalog of fines for possible violations) with their own rules. (see above). In normal states one could have refrained from prosecuting the innocent, poor wretches with their shit plants made in Austria, because the legal situation here seems too absurd. But in Bavaria this crime is constantly reported. Here they see it as another tool to pave their own way against the stoner with deterrent measures.
Bavaria has a long tradition of strict control, repression and defense mechanisms. House searches for two grams of marijuana were not uncommon. Several friends have also repeatedly reported how reliably they have been searched and harassed over the course of years and decades. Back then on the A9 at the internal German border in Rudolphstein, always on the border between Austria and Bavaria when entering Germany and not infrequently by civilian vehicles in the middle of the Bavarian highways. Hair styling, car styling, whatever. Greetings from the tribulation.
It's a shame, people thought then and now, that corrupt scoundrels can't just be deported. While several officers searched the emergency lane for the long-haired terrorist's van with a loud “So Bürscherl, etzad hamma di!” and it was completely demolished “accidentally”, endless drunken local CSU politicians were rushing to run. In their BMWs, laughing, waving, we meet. They were good times that, according to the sovereign's ideas, should never end.