Gardening News

Three hemp plants will be a minor offence
The term "a more than small amount of drugs", enshrined in Czech drug law, has been the butt of jokes for years. Now the government has come up with a new regulation explaining its meaning, news site iDNES reported Thursday.

The new regulation, to be discussed by MPs as part of Friday's scheduled debate on the Penal Code on Friday, would limit punishment to a fine for growing up to three hemp plants or carrying up to 20 joints, a gram of hashish or 0.5 grams of methamphetamine (pervitin). Any caught exceeding those limits would face criminal prosecution and a possible prison term.

"Several European countries have similar rules. It is good to say somewhere that you will not face prosecution for a single hemp plant," Viktor Mravcík, head of the Czech National Focal Point for Drugs and Drug Addiction, told iDNES.

Cool. The Czechs are taking a sober look at the benefits of their membership in the European Union.

The change could affect tens of thousands of people. According to a recent survey, more than one in three Czech schoolchildren has smoked marijuana in the last year, iDNES reports.

The vague legal language has been the subject of much criticism. Police have issued limits on pervitin and hashish, but courts did not have to abide by them. The new Penal Code should change this.

Police say they do not prosecute most small growers. Only a fifth of the 1,200 hemp growers caught in 2006 were charged; the rest only paid a fine. "We already have our own criteria on what we consider a crime," Bretislav Brejcha, an officer at the national anti-drug headquarters NPDC, told iDNES.

The police limits "are quite similar to the new regulation, therefore we don't mind [it] at all", Brejcha added.

Via The Prague Monitor

Photo: ČeskéNoviny.cz