Community | December 09, 2009 | 26 comments

Czech government allows personal cannabis use in 2010

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copperdragon
The interim Czech government, led by chief statistician-turned-Prime Minister Jan Fischer, Monday took another step towards making casual marijuana smoking a worry-free affair.

Fischer’s cabinet defined what constitutes “small amounts” of cannabis for personal use, clarifying the country’s new penal code that from next year decriminalizes cultivation and possession of the plant by individuals.

As of Jan. 1 ordinary Czechs can grow up to five marijuana plants or have several marijuana cigarettes in their pockets without fear of criminal prosecution. Previously what constituted a small amount was not specified and the police and courts loosely interpreted the penal code case by case, often resulting in incarceration of home growers.

See story on the cannabis decision from Czech news agency CTK.

The government’s approval of a table specifying what amounts of drugs are permissible is a vital part of the country’s new penal code that was last year approved by both houses of parliament and in January of this year was signed into law by President Vaclav Klaus. Without the just-approved table of amounts that will be used by Czech police, the January decriminalization of the drug would be difficult to judge by courts and investigators.

The plant still remains illegal, however, though from the new year possession of five or less plants is merely a misdemeanour, and fines for possession will be on par with penalties for parking violations.

The Czech decision is in sync with the country’s liberal, Dutch-like social attitudes and laissez-faire approach to civil liberties.

There is also an interesting lifestyle footnote: Czechs are Europe’s biggest drinkers of hops-infused beer and are also the continent’s leaders in smoking pot.

Czechs consume 320 pints of the golden brew per person annually. Also 22% of Czechs between the age of 16 and 34 smoke cannabis at least once a year, according to a recent report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.

There may be a botanical reason behind the Czech enthusiasm for the vices.

Hops, a thumb-sized, bulbous, leafy green flower which is used to give beer its bitter taste, and the similarly shaped, sized and colored cannabis flower are the two sole members of the Cannabaceae family of plants.

Czech decriminalization of small amounts of cannabis possession does not, however provide greater clarity to the country’s policy on medical marijuana, an issue which is gaining momentum both in Europe, in North America and elsewhere around the globe.

“Konopi Je Lek”, a Czech non-profit organization promoting medical marijuana recently co-founded the country’s first marijuana dispensary in Prague despite there being no medical marijuana laws on the country’s books.

The grand opening of the dispensary on Sept. 28 (The Day of Czech Statehood and the holiday of the country’s patron Saint Vaclav, or Wenceslas), was attended by Prague’s Mayor Dr. Pavel Bem, who is also a physician and proponent of sensible use of the herb.

However since the dispensary opened, Prague police have raided it, hauling away the cannabis meant for patients, and the dispensary is now looking for growers to help restock its supply.

Some Czech courts in some cases make exemptions to current law to allow for medical use and cultivation of cannabis, sparking legal battles.

The murky state of medical marijuana in the Czech Republic is akin to the legal limbo of the plant’s medicinal uses elsewhere in Europe.

- Article from The Wall Street Journal.

Czech govt defines rules of hallucinogenic plants growing
by ?eskéNoviny.cz

Prague - The Czech government today approved the list of hallucinogenic plants and mushrooms, including hemp, coca, mescaline cactus and magic mushrooms, and decided that people would be allowed to grow up to five pieces of such plants and keep 40 magic mushrooms at home, a CTK source said.

The cabinet was today also expected to discuss artificial drugs and a permitted amount of these drugs in people's possession.

However, it postponed the debate for two weeks, the source said.

The new Penal Code, which will take effect on January 1, is designed to specify the government's directive. It contains a special provision on the growth of hemp and magic mushrooms.

The government today also approved a directive on the use of anabolics and the list of diseases that will be considered congenial, according to the criminal law.

The law distinguishes between the possession of marijuana and hashish for people's personal needs, for which they will face up to one year in prison, from the possession of other drugs for which they can receive up to two years in prison.

According to the Justice Ministry's proposal that the government did not approve today, the possession of over 15 grammes of dried marijuana or over two grammes of methamphetamine (pervitine), cocaine and heroin will be punishable.

The tolerated amount of drugs in people's possession is at present defined by police internal directives. No one thus knows precisely what amount is considered an amount "larger than a small amount of drug," the possession of which is punishable by the law.

If the government approves the ministry's proposal without changes in two weeks, people will be able to have four pills of ecstasy in their possession and up to five grammes of hashish.

- Article from ?eskéNoviny.cz.


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26 comments // Czech government allows personal cannabis use in 2010

  • davzap
  • ladyflash
  • jdubsy
  • ryan8566
    • 0
      ryan8566  
    • another case of the u.s., the former leader, being behind other countries in social/victimless issue. with our current economy the funds that legalization would produce should be no-brainer.

    • 2 years ago
  • rickm8
  • shelbynb
    • 0
      shelbynb  
    • ahh I love the CZ! I am currently living in Prague and the marijuana laws here are even more lax than this article makes them out to be. There are certain bars and clubs in Prague that are known for selling weed. I can walk less than a block away from my university into a bar, go up to the bartender, ask for a gram and he will weigh it out in front of me. Police mind their own business and never raid these bars. I've even asked a policeman for a light before. Czechs are wonderful when it comes to mj. Last week a high Czech man came up to a table of me and my friends and gave us an entire joint. Love life in Praha.

    • 2 years ago
  • ras_menelik
  • Psymoniac
  • PressCore
    • 0
      PressCore  
    • shelbynb:

      @shelbynb. In Pilsen, they make a lager bier that's well renown because of the aromatic hops. Lagers themselves are very smooooth tasting because the bottom fermenting yeasts ferment them at 35 degrees in the frig, and take months to complete their mission. Special, peppery cannabis like aromatic hops are added after the barley malt is boiled and cooled to preserve the oils that carry the flavor. These special hops make the salivary glands produce amylase enzyme to digest the carbs in the brew. I'm a homebrewer and once made my own variation by adding brown barley malt powder to the brew. The brown malt is partialy caramelized and balances the gold malt well. If you ever get into the hobby, try to make some of this special recipe of Czech Pilsner and give it to your friends in Prague. I guarantee you'll get lots of smiles, laughter and positive thoughts all right. And probably a splif with some good hashish in it too. Zum wohl fraulein. Sehr gutus gluck. I admire your philosophy.

    • 2 years ago
  • robidog
    • 0
      robidog [removed]  
    • shelbynb:

      I loved Prague and the Czech people. They love freedom and know what it's like to live without it.

      Allowing possession of MDMA is a major step in the right direction. It is the most transformative and therapeutic substance out there IMHO and the world needs it badly.

      And yes, what about LSD?

    • 2 years ago
  • Daubview
  • raiderguyx
  • captain_insano
  • cynker
  • Conniepae
    • 0
      Conniepae  
    • It's time to have the discussion in America. Too many people in America have entered our Criminal Justice System, due to cannabis. The facts do not support the 'war on cannabis'. Politicians have been using the 'war on drugs' as a political tool, regardless of facts. That has to change. It's time to stop giving them the luxury of waging a war on American soil, based on 'fear and madness'. That's just crazy.

      For to long ordinary Americans have been forced to remain in the closet, due to misinformation. The true history of cannabis hemp was removed from educational material in American education and replaced with 'fear and madness'. People repeat the 'talking points' of those who benefit from the elimination of their 'natural competition'. Cannabis hemp competes with corporate America on so many levels, it's hard to find an industry, which would not be affected by the re-legalization of cannabis hemp.

      Hemp alone could be an industry unto it's self. It is 100% biodegradable and can be used to manufacture many of the products, which are now polluting the planet. It's time to put people before profit and politics. It is time for change! We need jobs and we need to start making environmentally friendly products.

    • 2 years ago
  • chivideoguy
  • PressCore
  • bailey78
    • 0
      bailey78  
    • Ok when is the U.S. going to follow suit? We need to decrimmalize cannabis here for the greater good of the country. Tax it and set the people free to choose for them selves. I do not need a baby sitter to tell me what is good or bad for me. I am an adult with a desire to consume a Herb that grows from the Earth. What is so wrong with that? I don't drink I don't use hard drugs and I want to use a herb to do for me what man made chemicals can not do with out major side effects.

    • 2 years ago
  • Ares
    • 0
      Ares  
    • bailey78:

      That's another area where the legalization (or at least decriminalization) movement is meeting so much resistance, and it blows my mind that nobody can see it.

      The government doesn't care that you don't think you need a baby sitter, why do you think they're blowing a load in their pants to push health care through? How about SG warnings on alcohol, dip, chew, and cigarettes? DOT warnings on vehicles? State Troopers on the highway? The government has it in its head that people are fucking retarded, and until we prove them wrong, they're going to keep regulating the shit out of everything that can possible harm anyone, ever.

      Heroin is made from natural ingredients too, that doesn't mean it's good for you. So is tobacco, alcohol, opium, loco weed, the list goes on and on.

      I'm not saying I don't support decriminalization, but you can't use personal desire as your backbone.

    • 2 years ago
  • bailey78
    • 0
      bailey78  
    • bailey78:

      The cannabis I use has a lot less sideeffects than the pills I was getting from my psychiatrist. Even he told me that consuming the herbs was better than the pills. I was on ativan an buspar. they made me very zombie like I had not emotions no thoughts. My wife would lead me around like a puppy. When I consume a small amount of cannabis I am good for a couple of days.

    • 2 years ago
  • mr_tibbles
    • 0
      mr_tibbles  
    • bailey78:

      Ares,

      I've seen some of your comments on posts about decriminalization and it always seems that you're against it, or at least against many of the reasons people want it decriminalized. I'm just wondering what exactly is your stance on decriminalization of cannabis? Not trying to start shit, I'm just genuinely curious as to what your opinions are on the subject.

    • 2 years ago
  • bailey78
  • PressCore
    • 0
      PressCore  
    • bailey78:

      They complain because they're not one with Peace. The sacred herb brings Peace, and oneness with it, so we're cool. But the only alchys make the wrong choice in choosing a poison instead of a legitimate natural medicine. So as a result, the damage which the excess of alchohol molecules causes their organs makes them mean because alchohol has the effect of putting a bite on them. Alchohol molecules are the waste products of bacteria and yeasts(a fungus). Alchohol is lighter than water having a specific gravity of .9 of water. So the alchohol molecules infiltrate the cell membranes, harden them, and muck up the natural ingress/egress of gasses, and liquids which interfere with cells replicating perfect copies. instead alchohol being a toxic waste product foists a carcinogen into the cells. Worse, the damage is cumulative over a lifetime,and the only thing known to reverse it is, ironicly, Cannabis inhalation acting on the natural receptors formed over millions of years of evolutionary human interaction with the sacred herb. Naturaly fermented barley/wheat malt beer won't cause the damage that higher concentrations of alchohol will cause. The malt contains vitamins, minerals, bioflavinoids, amino acids, and nucleic acids essential to human health which tends to.counteract the nutrient deprivation that alchohol imposes.. Also,as a bittering herb, the hops purifies the blood by restoring the proper PH balance between blood and tissues. And too, hops is a natural herbal preservative as part of the Cannabacea family. For thousands of years now we Germans have given hopped beverages to our elders to keep them going. I add amylase enzymes to break down the non fermentable sugars into partialy fermentable sugars to make my bier more like dry wine, which lowers the alchoholic content down to 1 or 2% max. That's what a hydrometer is for. Important to remember that both Cannabis and alchohol are drugs classified as sedative/hypnotic/anesthetic. (Though Cannabis is non toxic.) Believe it or not, if you purify the water used to homebrew by processing it through distillers, and use very efficient, laboratory cultured, low waste yeasts to naturaly ferment eg. creme soda, the brew will pass through the blood/brain membrane barrier and produce dopamine in the substantia nigra part of the brain which then will circulate through to the omegdala part of your brain and get you high. It's not the THC molecule itself which gets you high. It's you that gets you high. Haven't you ever wondered why Cannabis Sativa from Vietnam
      aka trip weed will produce the same synaesthesia effect that mescaline or LSD will ?The THC molecule found in Cannabis, Hashish, Hash oil, Jamaican #1 is only one of many chemical keys that unlock the "Doors of Perception" as Aldous Huxley wrote about in his documentary after doing some peyote buttons. Ya sure ya betcha.

    • 2 years ago
  • bailey78
  • PressCore
    • 0
      PressCore  
    • bailey78:

      Glad to hear it. There are very few of my comments which I fail to edit. I often add more information than is included in the insta Email alert bots which Current sends you. There's yet more context to my response, but you'll have to return to the article page to read it. If you blog all the articles you respond to as I do, your blog will have updated my edited and expanded comment. Ed.

    • 2 years ago
  • Psymoniac
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