Czech Republic Lawmakers Pass Bill To Legalize Marijuana Home Cultivation And Allow Psilocybin For Medical Use

Lawmakers in Czech Republic this week moved forward with plans to reform the nation’s drug laws to legalize simple possession and home cultivation of marijuana and allow the use of psilocybin for medical purposes.

The country’s Chamber of Deputies passed the proposal on Friday, with 142 out of 159 members voting in favor. The measure next proceeds to the Senate, and if approved there, it would go to the president’s desk.

The changes are part of a package of amendments to the Czechia’s criminal code that supporters say will reduce spending on low-priority offenses, lower the number of people behind bars and reduce recidivism.

“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, according to a translated report from broadcaster Česká Televize (CT).

With respect to cannabis, the proposal would legalize possession of up to 100 grams of marijuana at home or 25 grams in public. Cultivation of up to three plants would also be allowed, though four or five plants would be a misdemeanor and more than that would be a felony. Possession of more than 200 grams would also carry criminal penalties.

Zdenka Němečková Crkvenjaš, a Chamber of Deputies member from the Civil Democratic Party, led push to enact the drug-related reforms in the bill. On social media after the vote, she said it was the “end of pointless [prosecution] against seniors who grow cannabis for medicinal purposes.”

“Thank you to all colleagues for supporting the amendment,” she said.

As for psilocybin, the changes would allow the medical use of the psychedelic substance.

Czechia already has a relatively liberal stance on cannabis, having legalized medical marijuana and, since 2010, classified possession of up to 15 grams of cannabis for non-medical use as a civil infraction.

Other provisions considered but not included in the newly advanced criminal code amendment would have legalized supervised drug consumption sites, where people could used drugs in a supervised setting, and allowed the facilities to test users’ drugs for contaminants.

The proposal also includes changes to laws around alimony, hate crimes, political speech and other matters.

As UK-based drug policy activist Steve Rolles reported on social media after the vote, “the bill now has to pass through the senate (very likely) and be signed off by the president (who has said he will sign it).”

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.

The measure, from the Freedom Movement (Gibanje Svoboda) and The Left (Levica) parties, would legalize cannabis extracts, plants and resin by removing the substances from Slovenia’s list of illegal drugs, according to local reports. THC, however, would remain prohibited unless used for medical or scientific reasons.

“Our goal is to protect patients and cannabis users from unverified products on the black market, enable uninterrupted medical cannabis supply to patients and address current legal shortcomings in the field of cannabis use for medical and scientific purposes,” the Freedom Movement said in a statement about the proposal.

Introduction of the new legislation came the same day as the Marijuana March, an activist rally organized by the Student Organization of the University of Ljubljana.

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.

Reform advocates had been watching closely to see how the centrist coalition would handle the legalization law, which officially took effect last April. Conservative lawmakers who won the most votes in the election have expressed their desire to roll back the law, but they were not able to get another party to agree to that plan as part of the new coalition.

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.

Representatives from Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Switzerland were invited by Germany’s then-Commissioner for Addiction and Drug Issues Burkhard Blienert to the meeting in Berlin.

The countries that participated in the ministerial have varying cannabis policies. 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.

What Europe Can Learn From Cannabis Legalization In North America (Op-Ed)

Image element courtesy of Kristie Gianopulos.