Czechia, mulling cannabis decriminalisation, calls for joint EU action

While recreational cannabis is not allowed in Czechia, possession and growing at home has been decriminalised since 2010 but is still punishable as a civil offence. [Shutterstock/HQuality]

Czech National Anti-drug Coordinator Jindřich Vobořil wants to strictly regulate the Czech cannabis market as cannabis sales should be decriminalised and regulated at the European level.

While recreational cannabis is not allowed in Czechia, possession and growing at home has been decriminalised since 2010 but is still punishable as a civil offence.

Market regulation and decriminalisation of cannabis users were among the topics of the Prague meeting of European anti-drug coordinators, organised under the Czech EU Presidency.

“We hope it will be a coordinated effort (to regulate the cannabis market). It is impossible not to talk about it on an EU-wide basis. Prohibition has not proved to be effective enough; we need to look for other models of control. A controlled market may be the only possible solution,” Vobořil said.

Vobořil is preparing a draft law on the regulated market in the Czech Republic, which he plans to submit by the end of the year. “I am glad that we are not alone in the EU,” Vobořil said.

He said that Germany, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands are also planning changes. On the other hand, some states, such as France and Sweden, are against any regulation.

The event in Prague was joined by leading experts on drug policy. According to Michel Kazatchkin from the Global Commission on Drug Policy, the EU should remove cannabis from the list of banned substances.

“We have been trying to do this for over a decade. There are many legal complications. But I believe there will be a shift in understanding in Europe and the world, and a regulated cannabis market will be in place,” Kazatchkine said, quoted by the Czech News Agency. He added that thanks to the Czech EU presidency, the debate on the regulated market is also reaching a “political level.”

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