Germany Bans Red Bull Cola
May 27th, 2009 by Rick
The Health Institute in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, conducted a sample test of Red Bull Cola and discovered a minute amount of a byproduct of cocaine, per liter in the drink. Fearing violations of their narcotics law, five other German states (Hesse, Thuringia and Rhineland-Palatinate) banned the drink from being sold in stores.
On Monday, the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (Germany’s equivalent to the FDA, but more scientific), said that that level of cocaine within the drink was too low to pose any sort of health risk and planned to release a more detailed report sometime today.
Red Bull said it’s cola was…
harmless and marketable in both the U.S. and Europe.
It doesn’t make sense why the ban went into effect. It would take 12,000 liters of the drink to become affected. Even negative publicity is still publicity and with all the media outlets covering the story, Red Bull Cola (which has only been available for a year) may certainly benefit from the buzz.
No Marijuana Pepsi in Germany
May 13th, 2009 by Erin
So if I ever move to Germany, it looks like I won’t be able to name my kids anything cool.
Thanks to a German court, surnames that are hyphenated three or more times are now banned with the claim that long names could cause “intolerable administrative difficulties” for German officials. Time reports that in addition, first names must be approved by local authorities to ensure that they are “gender-appropriate” and “must not expose the child to ridicule or discrimination”.
Names like Stompie and Woodstock have already been rejected. Someone should have sent Ashley and Pete Wentz there; we could have prevented Bronx Mowgli Wentz (initials BMW); although Germany probably would’ve fully embraced a name like that.
I wonder where Germany draws the line? For that matter, is it at the discretion of the authorities? In a country whose Economics Minister is Karl-Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Freiherr zu Guttenberg, this could not be more irrational. While ensuring not another child has to go through life with a name like Adolf Hitler is important, we have to take into consideration the amount of personal liberty we’re being allotted.
German Police: 7-Kilo Cocaine Delivery
February 5th, 2009 by Silvio
A man from Münster, Germany arranged a postal delivery of seven kilograms of cocaine from Bogota, Colombia. While the package was on its way to Germany, it was scanned at London Heathrow airport (warning: links to a German site, yeah we’re multi-lingual like that) and the authorities found coke worth €600,000 (street price).
The coke, declared as a hi-fi system, was then delivered by German police rather than by the good people of the German postal service. Our ballsy, stupid friend was of course arrested right after he signed for his delivery.
After a very short hearing in court, he was sentenced to seven years in the big house. He should be up for parole in about 4.5 years. Well, that kind of screws up one of my pension plans. Apparently, those guys at customs do work after all. I’m just glad I found out way in advance.
Germany Outlaws New Drug ‘Spice’
January 22nd, 2009 by Alex
Nope, I’m not talking about Sporty, Posh, Scary, Baby or Ginger – instead, Germany has outlawed anything having to do with the synthetic drug Spice. That means the production, sale and possession of this marijuana-like drug.
Marketed as a herbal room-freshener, Spice grew in popularity because the substance doesn’t contain cannabis and was unaffected by German anti-drug laws. Of course, anything the public can get legally that will cause pot-like effects is going to see a growth in sales.
Germany’s Drug Commissioner Sabine Baetzing announced her intentions to ban this drug in late 2008 due to the negative health effects studies have shown it to cause. Now it’s official.
Baetzing said:
Tests have shown that smoking the drug can cause undesirable side affects on the heart, circulation and nervous system, in some cases leading to unconsciousness. There is also a danger of addiction.
Let’s make it clear, any synthetic street drug is going to damage your body. In this case, Spice was found to contain the synthetic substance JHW-018, which can be up to 4 times more powerful than THC.
This ban is a modification to the Controlled Substances Act, and Germany has now joined Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands in regulating the use of Spice.
Germany Adopts MMJ Program
December 10th, 2008 by Perry
Joining Canada, Israel, Holland and the United States, Germany just became the fifth country to adopt a medical marijuana program. So far only a handful of patients have been certified by the government’s program, which will distribute medical marijuana grown by the Dutch, for special cases only.
The International Association for Cannabis as Medicine reports only four patients will receive actual marijuana buds, while several others will be eligible for a liquid extract form of THC.
The German program is similar in size to the United States federal program which has been around for over 30 years, but closed to new applicants since March 1992. Only four surviving patients remain, and continue to receive pot from the U.S. government. Since 1996, 13 states have ignored a federal ban on medical marijuana, passing laws allowing its use.
For more information about federal MMJ programs in the four other countries that allow it:
