The Constitutional Court has repealed a part of the Criminal Court concerning the cultivation and storage of cannabis in the Czech Republic, and also stated that the government has no power to specify what “greater than a small amount of cannabis” means.
Brno Daily reports that in the past when the cannabis plants contained more than a fixed limit of 0.3% of THC, the government decree set the “greater than small amount” in five plants.
Now, this has been changed as the Constitutional Court has repealed the empowering provisions for the government as it was “unconstitutional.”
According to the country’s Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, “only the law can stipulate what conduct is a criminal offence and what punishment may be imposed,” so the government has no power to set the limit.
Also, the Constitutional Court has complied with a district court’s proposal in which they argued that the “vague” legal wording makes it impossible to know whether someone commits a crime in connection with drug storage should be removed.
While campaigners wanted the term “greater than small” to be taken out from the Criminal Code, it was left in.
However, as the Constitutional Court stated that every case differs, the courts should assess them on an individual basis with “experts to analyse the active content of the substance” after the police allowed the cannabis to dry.
Concurrently, one of the Czech Health Ministry’s recent proposals would stop sending those who only cultivate a small amount of cannabis to jail.
Another proposal would allow establishing some sort of “drug rooms” across the country where drug users could consume their products under professional supervision and sterile conditions to prevent heavy users from overdosing.
The Czech parliament’s Health Committee delayed the voting on the proposals last week.
