Term One - Supreme Court Event Week 1

[Provolution]

TERM ONE -SUPREME COURT EVENT WEEK 1

Is Marijuana A Safe Drug ?

Following the national celebration of Civilitas, the global media fixed on Civilitas, as the first law was the "Smidgey-Equuleus Marijuana Legalization Act", followed by "Headserf-Bigdog Safe Food And Drug Act". There has been mixed reception of one of the most liberal drug laws in the world, only parallel to Ontario, Netherlands, Spain, Peru, Bangladesh and certain cantons in Switzerland. Foreign Minister Lockesdonkey was proven right when he pointed out the mellow and liberal nature of the Bengali citizenry in Al Hakimah, as Bangladesh is one of the more liberal Moslem states on earth.

Just to show an excerpt of the impact the Civilitas independence made on the world. The global media made cover stories of the new Civilitas Cabinet, a feature on Prime Minister Downtown by Larry King, the very first law passed being one of the worlds most liberal law on drugs, here Marijuana.

Civilitas had these top stories from the four provincial capitals as well as the city.


CIVILITAS BROADCASTING CORPORATION (Astoria/Al Hakimah)

XXXXXXXXXX

CIVILITAS UNIVERSAL MEDIA (Isthmus City, New Fanatica)

"New law makes getting laid easier"

KARMEL TIMES (Karmel, New Fanatica)

"Another freedom for the beach"

CHERNO PRAVDA (Marijak, Nurlsk)

"Another legal supplement to Vodka"

DINNER TIMES (North Shore, Cook Island)

"Should we laugh or should we cry?"


WORLD MEDIA


Liberal "San Francisco Chronicle"

"Who cares, be mellow"

The Dutch Newspaper

"Welcome to the club of liberty"

"Cinco Dias, Madrid"

"Olè!!! Marijuana first - liberty first - cahunes first!!!

The Bengali Times

"Our emigrated brothers in Al Hakimah can now smoke with us!"

Peruvian "El Comercio"

"Be one with the Pacific Goose, our pacific brothers and sisters"

Liberal "Washington Post"

"Baptism by fire - will the haze go away?"

Progressive "New York Times"

"Civilitas - The New Drugged Melting Pot?"

The Social Democratic inclined "The Guardian", London

Can the poor afford these habits?

"Pravda", Moscow

Vodka not enough for a man?

"Straits Times", Singapore

"Their First Law, Your Death Sentence"

Needless to say, the Supreme Court needs to establish whether or not Marijuana is a safe drug or not. This is the only event where the GMs does not decide the outcome but the judges. The GMs will write a feedback on how this law works, first in prose form, then in statistics we amend in the fact book.

Since the Marijuana Act came first, it has primacy of law. However, where does the Safe Food and Drug Act supplement or complement the initial act?
Would the labeling and the government control be equally strict. Is Marijuana a recreational drug or a medical drug. How are the differences in labeling and standards met? There are even more questions, but all must be addressed by the three Supreme Court Justices.

Chief Justice Methos
Justice Azale
Justice Splime

Marijuana Legalisation Act (August, 27th, 2007)

Article 1: Individual use and Possession:

1) Possession and use of cannabis as a recreational drug, medicine or any other use (including the hemp plant itself) shall be made completely legal.
2) A person must be of 18 or more years of age to use cannabis.
3) The sale and transfer of cannabis in its drug form to any persons under the age of 18 is punishable by up to five years imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $2,500.
4) Any person above the age of 18 who allows the transfer of cannabis to a minor through negligence on their part is punishable by up to six months imprisonment and a $500 fine.

Article 2: Marijuana and Retail:

1) Retail outlets of any kind are permitted to sell cannabis.
2) All locales that sell cannabis must provide labeling on their products of ingredients as well as instructions for safe use of the product.
3) Cannabis may only be sold in outlets which have a license to sell tobacco and/or alcohol.
4) Any private outlet that sells to an underage user may have their license revoked and a fine of up to $5,000 on the business establishment as well as being personally liable to Article 1 Sections 3 and 4.
5) If a private establishment open to the public is subject to smoking prohibition laws then marijuana/cannabis falls under the same jurisdiction as tobacco under these laws.
6) Individuals are permitted to grow cannabis for their own use and for the use of others, profit-free, without possessing a license of sale.

Article 3: Taxation:

1) Marijuana/Cannabis should be taxed at the same basic level of sales tax that are applied to tobacco products.

Article 4: Hemp Growth and Production:

1) Hemp can be grown on private property so long as it does not affect neighbouring properties in an adverse fashion.
2) Hemp and the refined cannabis drug cannot be legally traded to those countries where these products are illegal. Illegally trading with such countries may result in penalties in those countries and will result in a maximum of a five year prison sentence and/or a fine of up to $10,000 if apprehended within the jurisdiction of Civilitas.
3) It is illegal to grow hemp inside a private home in which people live, due to damage to health and property from the high levels of damp that these species require. Article 4 Section 3 supersedes Article 4 Section 1.

Sponsor: Smidgey
Co-Sponsors: Equuleus, Algeroth

Safe Food and Drug Act

Section 1
1. It shall be illegal for any person to sell a drug or food that is dangerous without proper warning documentation on the product that said product is dangerous.
2. It shall be illegal for drug or food sellers to alter or remove warnings issued by a producer or the government, without government or producer approval.

Section 2
1. It is prohibited to import or to export any good which is dangerous and does not contain proper warning documentation.
2. Section 2 only pertains to goods on Civilitas land; goods being transported across Civilitas ocean do not need to be inspected.

Section 3
1. The Civilitas federal government must allow for the needed amount of money to be provided in order to insure that all manufacturers, importers, and exporters, are inspected once randomly during the year.
2. Inspections will be done by individuals trained in food safety procedures and will report to officials in the Finance and Business Administration who will report their findings directly to the courts where the wrongdoer will then be put through the due process of law.

Section 4
1. The term drug shall be recognized as all medicine and chemical preparations for internal or external use, and any substance or mixture of substances intended to be used for the cure, mitigation, or prevention of disease for either people or other animals. The term food shall include all articles used for food, drink, confectionery, or condiment by people or animals, whether simple, mixed, or compound.
Created by: Head Serf
Endorsed by: sirdanilot, bigdog5994

 

[Provolution]

This event is now ACTIVE, only the Justices need to write here initially, their internal protocols, houserules and so on. Then they can address the issue upon the successful internal constitution of the Supreme Court. There will be one issue triggered by events per week, and they can handle one more disputed piece of legislation per week, for a maximum of two legal puzzles per week.

 

[Joe Harker]

The Social Democratic inclined "The Guardian", London

Can the poor afford these habits?

So typical of the guardian! (And i read it!)

 

[Splime]

I don't think that these bills conflict at all, as while Marijuana is dangerous, as long as it is labeled correctly, there is no problem. After all, cigarettes and alcohol are legal, and carry similar warnings.

 

[Provolution]

I think there is more delineation and clarification. Both Acts will stand, you just need to mark off where the provisions overlap, complement, supplement and supplant. Marijuana is indeed legal, it is more about how the enforcement of standards should be specified. This is the chance of the Supreme Court to interpret the relative handling of these laws (therein your vested power).

 

[sirdanilot]

The Food and Drugs bill hasn't passed yet.

 

[Provolution]

I know, but it is likely it will pass. I just created this event for that purpose, as I could come up with no other.

 

[Methos]

I would first suggest we discuss this prior to making our statements in regards to this event.

Is Marijuana a recreational drug or a medical drug?

The two terms, recreational and medicinal, need to be legally defined. In my opinion the standards used for medicinal purposes by Civilitas's medical staff, should be more strict than the standards used for recreational use. In order to do this though, each drug must specify what purpose it is for. The Safe Food and Drug Act must than specify what standards would be required for each purpose.

 

[dimaliok]

marijuana as a medical drug = ok
marijuana as a recreational drug = never

 

[Leif]

I believe we should treat the recreational use of Marijuana akin to the recreational use of alcohol.

 

[Red Door]

First off, the Washington Post isn't Conservative, it's liberal.

Second off, the CBC would prefer you use actual statements from us in your events.

Third off, shouldn't someone bring this up in court with a suing/trial, instead of it being places on the SC desk and being told to act on it?

 

[Algeroth]

Third off, shouldn't someone bring this up in court with a suing/trial, instead of it being places on the SC desk and being told to act on it?

It was the (So-Far-)Nameless-Citizen-Of-Civillitas

 

[Red Door]

It was the (So-Far-)Nameless-Citizen-Of-Civillitas

Against who, the state, province, other nameless private citizen, etc?

 

[Provolution]

First off, the Washington Post isn't Conservative, it's liberal.

Second off, the CBC would prefer you use actual statements from us in your events.

Third off, shouldn't someone bring this up in court with a suing/trial, instead of it being places on the SC desk and being told to act on it?

I amended point 1 and 2. However, since we need to make up for non existant GMs, this was the best we could do first week to get the ball rolling.
Pitching the two drug bills into a singular SC clarification makes sense.

Next Supreme Court event would be more timed to find a hole in it. The GMs are free to come up with one SC challenge per week.

 

[Methos]

Consider this event as a way for our newly formed Supreme Court to check the accuracy of our laws and how they concur or interfere with each other. A newly formed country will probably wish to examine its laws very carefully as they are formed.

 

[Provolution]

Yes, we can name this a judicial review of sorts. Methos, I think you need to steal the court procedures from the other demogame to get some basis here.

 

[Methos]

marijuana as a medical drug = ok
marijuana as a recreational drug = never

Whether the law is agreed by all or not, does not matter. Currently marijuana is legal in our country, for medicinal and recreational use. We are not questioning that, but are instead looking for any inconsistencies in our laws that may play off each other.

 

[Smidgey]

I don't understand why the supreme court should decide if cannabis is dangerous or not. Those who sponsored (and I am sure those that supported the bill) fully realised that cannabis can be dangerous, especially if used for long periods of time. The danger aspect, although important, did not really enter into whether it should be legal or illegal, since the danger of cannabis compared to a currently legal drug, such as alcohol, can often be less.

I agree with Method, this should be about making laws compatible. Since the safe food and drug act has passed it would make sense to say that cannabis (since we are all almost completely agreed that it can be dangerous and can have side effects like many other drugs and products) should have warning labels on it and ingredient labels. Maybe perhaps even source labels.

 

[Provolution]

I think Methos meant something more in the lines of "Reinheitsgebot", a German Law from 1648 for the purity of beer. I think quality standards is the issue here, not the legality. Watered out alcohol or Marijuana mixed with other drugs for example. The danger factor is not the issue here, more the technical procedures, standards and balancing those two acts out if needed.

Smidgey, take it easy, I think the justices will only make it easier for all, and you can still smoke that peacepipe from the New Gorgie City Hall

This event is important in order to get the Judiciary in gear in a simple way.

 

[Smidgey]

Oh, I wasn't angry!

Sometimes speech in writing comes off like that.

I hope I don't get too stoned and fall off the roof though!

For the record though, I've never smoked cannabis in my life, although I have had the chance to do so, I turned it down.