The Czech Republic has passed legislation to change the country’s anti-drug laws. This includes allowing simple marijuana possession, home cultivation and the medical use of psilocybin.
On Thursday, a month after it was approved by the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate granted its final approval. The bill now goes to President Petr Pav to be signed as law.
These reforms in drug policy are part of the criminal code amendments that will, say supporters of the law, reduce the amount of money spent on crimes of low priority and the number people in prison.
“The amendment will help criminal law better distinguish between truly socially harmful behavior and cases that do not belong in criminal proceedings at all,” outgoing Justice Minister Pavel Blažek said last month, according to a translated report from broadcaster Česká Televize (CT).
The proposal will legalize the possession of cannabis up to 100 grams at home, or 25 grams when in public. The cultivation of three plants is also allowed. However, four and five plants are considered misdemeanors. The possession of 200 grams or more would be punishable by law.
Zdenka Němečková Crkvenjaš, a Chamber of Deputies member from the Civil Democratic Party, led push to enact the drug-related reforms in the bill. She said on social media that the vote last month was “the end of useless [prosecution] “Against seniors who cultivate cannabis for medical purposes.”
The changes will allow for the use of psychedelic substances in medical settings.
Czechia has already taken a fairly liberal position on cannabis. It legalized the use of medical marijuana, and since 2010 it classifies possession of cannabis up to 15 g for non-medical purposes as a civil offense.
Some of the provisions which were not included in this new criminal code amendment allowed for supervised sites where drug users could use their substances in a controlled environment. They also permitted the testing by the facility to determine if the drugs used are contaminated.
The proposal also includes changes to laws around alimony, hate crimes, political speech and other matters.
Meanwhile in Europe, less than a year after voters in Slovenia approved a pair of marijuana ballot measures, lawmakers in that country recently introduced a bill that would regulate cannabis specifically for medical and scientific use.
According to reports, the measure from The Left (Levica), and the Freedom Movement, (Gibanje Svoboda), would remove cannabis plants, resin, and extracts from Slovenia’s illegal drug list. THC would be prohibited, unless it was used in medical or scientific research.
The Freedom Movement released a press release about its proposal. “Our aim is to protect cannabis users and patients from uncertified products sold on the black markets, to ensure that patients receive uninterrupted supplies of medical cannabis and to address the current legal deficiencies in cannabis use for scientific and medical purposes,” it said.
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The Marijuana March was an activism rally organised by the Student Organization of the University of Ljubljana on the day of the introduction of the law.
In Germany, following a pivotal national election, parties cooperating to form a new coalition government announced in April that they’ll conduct an “open-ended evaluation” of the country’s new marijuana legalization law.
Reformers had closely watched how the center-right coalition handled the Legalization Law, which was officially implemented in April. Conservatives elected to the legislature expressed their desire for the repeal of this law. But they couldn’t get any other party in the coalition to support that idea.
Beginning in April of last year, the legalization of possession and home cultivation for adults took effect in Germany. Cannabis social clubs also began to open, providing members with legal access to marijuana products.
German officials last year also convened an international conference where leaders were invited to share their experiences with legalizing and regulating marijuana, with a focus on public health and mitigating the illicit market.
Burkhard Blienert, then Germany’s Commissioner for Addiction and Drug Issues, invited representatives from Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands to a meeting in Berlin.
The cannabis policies of the participating countries differed. Malta, for example, became the first European country to enact cannabis legalization in 2021. Luxembourg followed suit, with the reform officially taking effect in 2023.
Government officials from several countries, including the U.S., also met in Germany in 2023 to discuss international marijuana policy issues as the host nation worked to enact legalization.
A group of German lawmakers, as well as Blienert, separately visited the U.S. and toured California cannabis businesses in 2022 to inform their country’s approach to legalization.
The visit came after top officials from Germany, Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands held their first-of-its-kind meeting to discuss plans and challenges associated with recreational marijuana legalization in 2022.
California Senators move bill for ratification of labor agreement that ends marijuana testing on most Correctional Officers
Kristie Gaianopulos provided the image.
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