The main enemy of the CSU? They’re actually the Greens. During the state election campaign, Prime Minister Markus Söder did not miss a beer tent stage or microphone to announce exactly that; he recently rabidly interfered with the black-green thought games of the sister party CDU. But now there is obviously a new enemy: bureaucracy. Back in January, in a keynote speech at Banz Monastery, Söder identified excessive regulatory anger as the source of all evil when it comes to a flourishing economy. And CSU parliamentary group leader Klaus Holetschek speaks out almost every day to talk about clearing out, purifying or unleashing the state. A string of regulations has been announced, and a state parliament study commission is even to be convened.
It is a laudable fight that the government is throwing itself into. It is all the more astonishing that the CSU advocates the exact opposite elsewhere. Namely when it comes to the upcoming release of cannabis, which is dangerous from the state government’s point of view. After the traffic light initiative, the Free State wants to make life as difficult as possible for stoners: application of the law is “extremely restrictive,” said Söder. The so-called cannabis clubs are particularly targeted. A central testing center is supposed to get to grips with this, white and blue “stoner inspectors”, we hear. With a maximum of bureaucracy, official regulations and monitoring. Ideally so strict that the opening or operation of the clubs is slowed down by the Dipferlscheißer in the civil servants’ offices. Cheers to bureaucracy! Exceptionally.
If there were lawsuits from cannabis clubs against Bavaria’s heavy hand, Holetschek would “even welcome that,” as he told BR24. Ultimately, this is the only way to create legal certainty. Florian Siekmann, domestic policy spokesman for the Green Party, warned the state government that federal law takes precedence over state law. It is important to “finally overcome the outdated CSU drug policy”. Now, contradictory views must be allowed when it comes to smoking weed, and the state government also has some legitimate objections to raise. Recently, a CSU man had to smile a bit himself when he spoke in a lengthy lecture first about the urgently needed reduction in bureaucracy and a few sentences later about urgently needed maximum bureaucratic barriers. When it comes to cannabis, because the regulatory frenzy fits in perfectly.