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Booze and butts a human right, drug commissioner says
Published: 9 Sep 10 10:25 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20100909-29709.html
Germany’s drug policy commissioner Mechthild Dyckmans defended welfare allowances for alcohol and cigarettes on Thursday, saying that little indulgences were a human right.
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The pro-business Free Democrat said that those who believe Hartz IV welfare recipients shouldn’t be able to drink and smoke is “simply being populist.”
But temperateness remains an important factor, she said.
“From a health perspective every person – including Hartz IV recipients – should not smoke and only drink moderately,” she told the paper.
Dyckmans also rejected the recent suggestions to increase taxes on cigarettes.
“Regarding the tobacco tax we first need to create a level playing field,” she said. “Many smokers have moved to fine-cut rolling tobacco and roll their own cigarettes now, because it’s cheaper due to the lower taxes.”
Instead of raising the tax on a pack of smokes, the government should instead insure that cigarette smuggling is reduced to insure that they are paid at all, she told the paper.
The goal of hiking taxes should not be filling government coffers, but rather creating an incentive for healthier living, she said.
DAPD/ka
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While a third of Germans would rather pay with the old Deutsche mark than the euro, economists warn that a German exit from the currency union would result in a disaster. READ () »
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Nearly 50 percent of German lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents reported being harassed and/or discriminated against last year, a study on the European Union’s LGBT community released on Friday and published in the Süddeutsche Zeitung showed. READ () »
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After a freighter went up in flames at the start of the month while carrying radioactive material into Hamburg's harbour, it has emerged that the German port city receives such hazardous cargo up to seven times a month. READ () »
Christian Democrats set up political donation ATM
Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats have installed a automated teller machine for political donations up to €100 at their HQ. The election campaign gag attracts tourists paying a few euros for the receipt it spits out. READ () »
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