Ever heard of the European Cities Against Drugs network? If not, no sweat, because we’re not in it anymore! Serious: Last week the Budapest city government decided to quit the ECAD, which the Hungarian capital had belonged to since 1994. One reason: They didn’t want to pay the €10,000 annual membership fee. Which seems pretty steep when you consider that, thanks to the growing availability of cocaine in Budapest, that 10 grand could buy a whole kilo of high-quality gak. [origo.hu]
Budapest Just Says No to European Anti-Drug Agency
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Looks like the local bean-counters have realised that the War on Drugs has been lost for years and that there is a better (or more likely, self-profitable) way to spend the cash.
I have long advocated on politics.hu that Budapest consider at the least controlled small scale cannabis tolerance zones, areas where it would be legal for sale in cafes and TAXED. Start off with areas fequented by tourists. If this works out, it can be made more available on a larger scale. Other Hungarian cities should be free to create their own policies on where it should be tolerated and how it should be taxed.
Also to be considered is medical marijuana, sold with a doctors prescription. (According to CNN, there are now over 800 of those in Los Angeles alone!) These transactions too could be taxed.
Our peasantry has had centuries of experience cultivating the plant. My grandmother grew hemp in her backyard and used it for: roof thatching, fence posts, twine, lamp oil (from the seeds), food (also from the seeds), to weave and make bedsheets, curtains and underclothes! Hungary needs a commercial hemp industry, both for fuel and products.
At a time when the govt sorely needs new tax revenue, taxation of cannabis makes a great deal of sense. It is a supremely popular commodity, and the commerce will continue no matter what. Govts wordwide are actually abandoning their role of govt by not regulating and taxing the trade.
Treating cannabis users as criminals was a delusion that was spread wordwide at the instigation of the US govt. For decades, the US would threaten any nation that dared to liberalise its cannabis policy with very dire consequences. That time should have passed. American style Puritanism and moral fanaticism need not be exported, certainly not to Hungary.