Czech Republic to remove marijuana from banned list

The Czech Republic is planning to take Marijuana off the banned substance list and onto the list of drugs which can be prescribed by a doctor. More and more Czechs are apparently growing marijuana and combined with the fact that there is growing evidence that marijuana is medically useful in a whole host of diseases it seems that the Czech Republic government has decided that’s it is better off the banned substance list.

A Eurobarometer survey found that more than a quarter more young people in the Czech republic have smoked marijuana compared to the EU average. The Czech government seeks to realise that complete crimination and harsh repercussions does not work and that is why in 2010 they decimalised small amounts. This just seems to be a further extension of that based on the extensive evidence of the health benefits of marijuana.

There are worries that the relaxation of the law may have consequences though, this mainly relates to neighbouring countries. There is a worry that countries such as Germany who have traditionally had tough drug laws will step up police checks along the border due to the perception that the Czech Republic is not tough on soft drugs. There have already been claims that since 2010 when the Czech Republic decimalised small amounts for personal use that the neighbouring countries started increasing the amount of searches carried out.

The distribution of marijuana is still unknown with the Czech Position suggesting that maybe the state will license several marijuana farms to grow it with distribution organized to those prescribed it. The Deputy Minister of Health however said that he would rather the marijuana was not home-grown and instead imported into the Czech Republic.

Many in the Czech government support marijuana laws being less tough these include Miroslava Němcová and the chairman of the Public Affairs party Radek John. The Deputy Minister of health who has announced this change in drug laws has said that making sure there is no abuse in the system will be one priority in deciding how marijuana is distributed.