Geez, Time for new Vacation Plans

Here I was going to go somewhere probably lame this summer, and then I stumble across this article The city of Berlin is moving quickly to decriminalise possession of small amounts of cannabis in what is called "bowing to reality", even as federal law in Germany still outlaws production or sale of the drug. The legislation to permit possession of up to 15 grams of pot or hashish "for personal use" is backed by the overwhelming majority of lawmakers in the city council chambers

- shades of the 70's. Seems like the ideal time to brush up on my German! I think the Berliners, who are pretty liberal when it comes to drinking,smoking,etc (like most Germans) are making sense with this idea. Better than running around through peoples' gardens wasting taxpayer money, in the hopes to gather up some kid growing a weed or two in the backyard. Actually, during my college years, I lived with a German family for 3 months, who had a garden and unbenownst to them, their son was growing the "evil weed" in the garden and then drying it in their attic. He used to tell them he was experimenting with a new tea leaf. Ho,ho,ho! Had some good times in that house! LOL

What is a more troubling problem for Germans is the very high percentage of kids smoking, something I noticed even back in the late 60's and early 70's. Wonder what their rate of lung cancer is over there?

And perhaps even more thought provoking - Beer is sold at fast-food outlets such as McDonald's and Burger King. Beer and wine are sold at cinema snack bars. Many autobahn service stations make more money selling beer than they do selling fuel. Boy, now that's comforting to know that somebody is tooling down the Autobahn at 150mph after quaffing down a few liters at the last rest area. Of course, it's not a whole lot different here in the States, except that in Germany, Beer is truly KING! (In fact a nice big Liter from the ol' Herbst Brauerei in the Marktstrasse in Krefeld would suit me just dandy, about now! :) Wonder if it's still there?