(no subject)
Philadelphia has passed Council Bill # 060345, also know as the "blunt ban". It's now illegal for retail businesses to sell any cigarette, cigar, tiparillo or cigarillo in packages fewer than six or costing less than $3. Also illegal to sell, is any cigar, or ciggarette rolling paper. The end of the bill states that "any tobacco item that can be considered drug paraphernalia" is also illegal for sale, with fines from $300 to $2000. The DLI may also revoke the business privilege license of any person in violation.
The pdf can be found here: http://www.phillynorml.org/bluntbill/2907.pdf
With this new set of laws, the city of philadelphia has the power to deny the sale of anything deemed "drug paraphernalia" such as apples, sandwich bags, lighters, envelopes, paper clips, ballons, pipes. The list is extensive, it continues to list common household items.
Headshops like Artifax and Wonderland will hopefully stay in business, Im pretty sure they have been grandfathered into the system. The Office of National Drug Control Policy cites that 14 million Americans use Cannabis regularly. I wont delve into the health risks of marijuana compared to the risks of alcohol and nicotine. It's proven and irrefutable that marijuana is safer.
I can't go out and have a black&mild, I can't get a ciggarette from the store and soon I won't be able to relax and smoke a blunt. My uncle who has saved thousands of dollars over the years by rolling his own cigarettes no longer has that option.
Our city, and for this matter our country, is being run by disgruntled and misguided shit heads.
Shit heads with no concern for the environment, no real answers to current problems in middle and lower class society.
I understand that we have many issues in our citys and countrys, issues that have no clear answers. Issues such as increasing murder rates, less work available, low funding for public schools. We have millions upon millions of citizens addicted to crack cocain and alcohol among other harmful substances. We murdered sadaam after giving him weapons to go to war with Iran, chemicals he used on his own people. We have censorship laws so absurd that you might as well put the television on mute. We've ignored and rejected environmental issues for so long that we're literaly telling our great grandchildren to fuck off.
It's almost disorientating, the city of philadelphia was more concerned about blunts being sold and used for smoking pot than any other item on the list.