Let's smoke Valeri Simeonov!

Seriously! The man has all the qualities to be a leader. He has shown it with his years in business, he also shows it in his emotionally charged parliamentary life. He also has all the qualities to stay in power or around it for a long time. He knows what you have to do when elections are coming up, namely – to promise pensioners a 300 leva minimum pension, that you will stop the gypsies from robbing the villages and closed borders ( so that someone passing by will take it, that he wanted to stay in Bulgaria , right… ). He knows what you have to do after the elections– none of what you promised. Excuse me, but this is the man who manages to share the same room with his former blood enemies Volen Siderov, Krasi Karakachanov and Boyko Borisov, just for the sake of having more power. At the very least, we must recognize his strength of spirit and iron nerves.

What we see in Mr. Simeonov's actions is not that he is chaotic, but quite the opposite. It seems that he has a solid vision in his head of what the state should be. For example, it should not be noisy in the establishments in Sunny Beach and if we ban it, the resort will flourish. On the other hand, it is also OK to bring back smoking in these same establishments, because there is no point in a ban if it is not respected (and he is right). On the one hand, we are for business to develop and build a second, third, tenth lift, and in the meantime we should nationalize various other businesses, because they should not develop... This seemingly moral chaos and conflict is not necessarily a bad thing. In order not to assume that Mr. Simeonov is trading his position of power for a freer interpretation of his morality, we will assume that the Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria simply has a strong character, his own unique vision, not falling into the traditional divisions of left and right, conservative and liberal. He is, as he likes to say about himself, a Bulgarophile.

We will assume that this is the true face of the leader of the United Patriots - a person close to the people, who is willing to reach into the wound, to tackle a problem, and to be unwavering until he fixes things completely.

That's the problem with weed and the people who smoke it. It's not just cigarettes, Mr. Simeonov. Over a million people in Bulgaria have smoked weed at some point in their lives. That's every sixth person you pass on the street, every second person who goes to a disco in Sunny Beach and probably every tenth person who voted for you as a member of parliament. Not to mention that 90% of those over a million who have tried it are young people...

You want to be close to the people? Smoke with them.

Every generation has its own drug. Our grandfathers brewed rakia, our fathers drank imported liquor…we smoke weed. And many of us grow it at home, just like our grandfathers brewed rakia at home. Is this Bulgarian? It is very Bulgarian! Our great-grandfathers grew weed, hemp…just like the one that young Bulgaria smokes today. Is the law being followed? Answer yourself, Mr. Simeonov, whether the law is being followed and whether it even works if, despite the threat of up to 3 years in prison, over a million Bulgarians have decided to try weed anyway.

These, Mr. Simeonov, are the people who go to work and pay taxes. They even have good jobs and pay good taxes. These are the people who run businesses, treat the sick, build buildings and highways, drive you in taxis, and feature you on television (!!!). Do you want to be on the pulse of the Bulgarian people? Try weed, Mr. Simeonov.

Try it, not because it will necessarily make you like it. Try it to understand these over a million Bulgarians. Why do they smoke at all instead of drinking brandy or imported spirits? Why would they prefer a small hemp cigarette in the evening after work instead of beer or the tobacco smoke that you dislike so much? Why is the Bulgarian state the number one threat to these people instead of a friend? Where is the Bulgarophilia if the Bulgarian state pushes Bulgarian citizens to move to foreign countries that are tolerant of weed?

These are pretty important questions. Every second high school student will try before they graduate. Don't we need at least one politician with real power who knows what's going on in the heads of half of our high school students?

Valeri Simeonov holds all the power regarding drugs in Bulgaria.

Technically not him, but his employee and personal friend Svetlana Yordanova. Mr. Simeonov is her party and cabinet chief, and she is his most loyal tool in the Ministry of Health. It was so important that she master the entire drug policy that at one time they even appointed her in violation of the law. Well… she already mastered it. What will Mr. Simeonov do with this power now?

We, one million young and working Bulgarian citizens, invite you to smoke with us, Mr. Simeonov. Come, join our march on May 19, even if you don't agree with us. Come, so you can hear us. We are the pulse of the people. We are also Bulgarophiles and we want to never again have to exchange our homeland for another Western country, because things here are unbearable. In the West, politicians also smoke. Even they know how to make sure that their 10-20% smoking population has no obstacles to going to work every day, having families, having a normal life. Here, these same working, family-oriented, normal people are subjected to daily harassment and misunderstanding by the institutions. Excuse me, but is it normal for a young, healthy, working person who has not hurt anyone... to end up in prison?! And when he does, what exactly about prison life will make him give up his habit, Mr. Simeonov, what do you think?

Did you know, Mr. Simeonov, that a patrol officer asks for a 400-500 leva bribe every time he stops a young-looking driver with the threat "Come on, let's test you for mar e hoana now"? Didn't you want 300 leva in pensions for grandmothers? We'll give it to you! Just smoke with us, Mr. Simeonov. Understand how big the problem is, solve it... and we'll all fill the treasury together instead of the pockets of the patrol officers. The state of Colorado has the population of Bulgaria. This year, the state government will receive more than half a billion dollars in tax revenues from the weed that is smoked there anyway. Imagine how many highways we will build, how we will fill the fund for treating children abroad, how we will fix the holes in pensions and the health insurance fund. We will fill these holes in the treasury, Mr. Simeonov. Because it is mainly filled by those same 10-20% of hard-working young people that the current law sends to prison. And prisoners don't pay taxes and pensions.

Smoke with us, Mr. Simeonov. Name a charitable cause and your amount. We will collect it and donate it. Just smoke with us, Mr. Simeonov. Show these one million people that there is at least one Bulgarian leader who understands their problems. All the children of MPs and ministers smoke. But it's not the same. The law doesn't catch them. It's time for their dads to light up.

Friends, if you see Valeri Simeonov on the street, offer him some of your weed!

Smoke with us, Mr. Simeonov…so that there will finally be FREEDOM FOR HEMP!

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