The Czech government looks to be pursuing a full commercial adult-use cannabis market as part of its ‘Cannabis Management Act’, according to leaked documents seen by Business of Cannabis.
It came just days after the architect and driving force behind the cannabis legalisation project, National Drug Coordinator Jindřich Vobořil, announced that he was resigning from his role but continuing to work on the project as an expert advisor.
This effort now represents the best chance a country in the European Union has had yet to pass legislation that would allow for a fully regulated commercial cannabis market, as seen in Canada and certain US states.
While there are still potential roadblocks ahead for the legislation, both internally and from the European Commission, which has effectively derailed efforts from Germany and Luxembourg to do the same, it will set a precedent and provide a workable model for other countries to follow suit.
What happened?
In late May, Business of Cannabis reported that Mr Vobořil, who was was officially commissioned by the Czech government to prepare a law for the regulation of cannabis in November last year, had completed two separate versions of the bill.
One of these, which was made public in January, sparked outrage among cannabis advocates due to the apparent omission of plans for a full commercial market.
However, this omission was actually a calculated political strategy to put pressure on the bill’s opponents and attempt to prove the extent of public support for the regulated commercial market.
As such, a second extended bill was prepared by Mr Vobořil and the government, which includes plans for such a market.
Until now, there has been little indication of which of the bills the government would choose to pursue.
With its next-door neighbour and close trading partner Germany passing its own cannabis reform bill through the Bundestag last month, choosing not to pursue a full commercial market, some had suggested this could have encouraged the Czech Republic to follow in its more cautious footsteps.
What’s in the draft bill?
The submitted draft of the Cannabis Management Act would seek to legalise self cultivation of cannabis for personal use, establish a licencing and seed-to-sale tracking system, and set up German-style cultivation associations.
Crucially, however, the bill also goes a step further than its German counterpart, suggesting in the opening paragraphs that in order to effectively tackle the illicit market, a ‘regulated cannabis market’.
“From the point of view of the National Drug Policy Coordinator, this proposal is insufficient and I consider the Cannabis Management Act, which contains three pillars: self-growth, delegation and a regulated cannabis market, to be effective in minimising the illicit cannabis market,” it reads.
“I therefore take the liberty of submitting to the political representation a comprehensive bill on the management of cannabis, which extends the present proposal to include the pillar of the regulated cannabis market. In doing so, I am also meeting the expectations of some coalition partners.”
The proposal can be broken down into what it refers to as ‘chapters’, including decriminalisation of the possession of small quantities of cannabis, self cultivation of cannabis for personal use, and shared cannabis associations or ‘specialised cannabis establishments’, understood to effectively be dispensaries.
To effectively monitor and regulate these separate chapters, a ‘seed-to-sale’ tracking system, similar to the one currently being tested in Switzerland, has been proposed.
This system will be ‘highly anonymised’ with only the administrator given access to the raw data. To handle cannabis in any form, a person is required to register with the system and be issued a card containing a ‘unique identifier’ which proves their authorisation to handle cannabis.
Persons authorised to handle cannabis will be split into three groups, those cultivating for personal use, registered members of cannabis associations, and users obtaining cannabis in specialised establishments.
Licence holders must pay an application fee of CZK 2,000, which will be put towards the state budget, must be over 18, and can only hold a licence for one of these groups at a time.
Strict limits will be placed on where dispensaries or associations can be placed, while a ban on cannabis-related advertising will be imposed. Furthermore, the Government Office is proposed as the main controlling authority due to its ‘competance in the field of drug policy’.
It also proposes the decriminalisation of up to 10 grams of cannabis for personal use for all citizens, defined as ‘cannabis dry matter, cannabis extract and tincture or other form of processed cannabis plant, in aggregate equivalent to not more than 10 grams of cannabis dry matter containing 10 % of substances of the tetrahydrocannabinol group’.
For licensed card holders in the first category, home cultivation, this limit is increased to 30 grams in public or 1500g in their home. A maximum cultivation area of 3sq metres will also be imposed.
Licence holders of the other two categories, cannabis association members and customers of dispensaries, will also be able to possess 30g in public, or up to 180g in their homes. Cannabis dispensaries must also only distribute cannabis to those specific licence holders.
Any person who breaches these legal obligations will be liable to pay a maximum fine of CZK 100,000, rising to CZK 10 million for cannabis businesses.
Campaign group Rational Regulation (RARE) said of the proposed regulations: “With the new legislation, which will replace the current prohibitionist approach with control and regulation for the benefit of the state and citizens, the Czech Republic would join the changes that have recently taken place in Germany and the United States, opening the way to rational regulation and addressing the negative impacts resulting from the current prohibitionist practice.”
Despite their positive view of the proposed bill, they also raised concerns about the recent resignation of its architect, Mr Vobořil, stating: “We consider the departure of Jindřich Vobořil, a key expert on addiction, to be unfortunate and risky, especially in view of the fact that his position in the negotiation of a comprehensive drug policy reform will change, because from the position of national drug coordinator he could have addressed the issue not only professionally, but also in a non-partisan manner, which is now threatened.”
This article was originally published by Business of Cannabis and is reprinted here with permission.
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Author: Business of Cannabis
