

Greece to pass bill, decriminalizing the use of marijuana - stagas
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=el&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.skai.gr%2Fnews%2Fhealth%2Farticle%2F176433%2Fapopoinikopoieitai-pliros-i-hrisi-narkotikon-%2F&act=url

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Zumzoa
This headline is misleading.

As far as I can tell, this is in fact a draft of a bill which would
decriminalise marijuana.

It has not been passed, and even if it eventually is passed (likely in a
changed form), it will not make possession and sale legal.

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wccrawford
There's been a rash of people in the last year that think 'to pass' somehow
means 'might pass', when it doesn't actually. I've taken to ignoring anything
they say.

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arethuza
They should legalize it, put a tax on it and use the money to help pay off
their debts!

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djm
That might not work as well as we might wish. A substantial amount of spending
in most first world economies results from spending money earned by illegal
drug sales. (I don't have figures to quote. A pretty good book came out I
think ~10 years ago that was about the contributions to various economies from
spending as a result of criminal enterprise but I'm afraid I can't recall what
it was called or find it on google now).

If you legalise and apply tax the government would see additional sales tax
revenue but also a reduced corporation tax revenue.

I imagine they'd still be better off by a long shot because they'd likely
spend less money fighting drugs related crime, and also because legalisation
seems likely to increase consumption.

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arethuza
"reduced corporation tax revenue"

Since when do criminal gangs pay corporation tax?

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djm
I meant corporation tax revenue from businesses that gain income by selling
stuff to people who are paying with drugs money.

edit: I'm not sure I'm explaining myself very well so let me just spell it
out:

If it was legalised and taxed they would receive sales tax income (VAT or
whatever they call it in greece), and probably additional tax income from
likely "harmful substance" taxes (like those applied to alchohol, cigarettes,
petrol etc). At the same time the folks who had been selling drugs illegally
would lose income and thus reduce their own spending in the economy.

The result would be increased revenue for some businesses (who started legally
selling the dope) and reduced revenue (& thus corporation tax) for all of the
other businesses who didn't.

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sasvari
english article (no translation):

[http://greece.greekreporter.com/2011/08/02/decriminalization...](http://greece.greekreporter.com/2011/08/02/decriminalization-
of-drug-us/)

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Kudos
I don't think legalised is the same thing as decriminalised.

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wccrawford
Isn't it? What's the difference?

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icebraining
At least here in Portugal, it means you still can't sell or buy it. It's just
not a crime to possess small amounts or smoke it (I'm not sure if it's still
punishable with a fine or not).

It's still a good step, since it doesn't get you a criminal record nor it
clogs the courts, but it's not anything near to actually legalizing and
regulating the sale and consumption.

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Keyframe
OK, and how is this Hacker News material?

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vynch
coz a lot of creative programmers happen to smoke too!!

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hackermom
Finally. Stop ruining everyone's lives by wasting tax payers' money on jailing
marijuana users for doing something that never caused anyone any harm!

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vynch
its a good step towards a 420 friendly world!!

