Supporters of the marijuana legalization won in court against the president

The Supreme Court revoked the Speaker’s refusal to accept a notification of setting up the ‘Free Hemp’ Right of Legislative Initiative Committee. Court took into consideration the Committee’s complaint. In June, Bronisław Komorowski, the Speaker of the Sejm, blocked the Committee’s coming into existence. Komorowski claimed that there were formal mistakes in the proposal – lack of experts’ opinion was one among other things.

- The Court acquainted with a complaint made by the ‘Free Hemp’ Right of Legislative Initiative Committee, took it into consideration and revoked the appealed decision. – said Teresa Pyźlak from the Supreme Court. The decision means that the Committee can continue its action aimed at proposal of changes in law concerning legalization of so called ‘soft drugs’. In May this year, during the Hemp Liberation March which takes place every year in the capital city, the organizers informed about creating a civil initiative aimed at marijuana legalization.

It was inconvenient topic during the campaign – ‘Free Hemp’ plenipotentiary

Creating the Right of Legislative Initiative Committee enables its supporters to begin collecting one hundred thousand signatures for a bill. The petition campaign can start when the Committee is registered. Notification about setting up the Committee got to Bronisław Komorowski in June. At the beginning of August he refused to accept it. He justified this decision claiming that there were formal mistakes. The second reason was the lack of opinions issued by the Principal Medical Association and the Attorney General. The Committee didn’t agree with his arguments.

- It’s a vicious circle, because the Attorney General responded that we must have the Speaker’s approval in order to get his opinion – claimed the ‘Free Hemp’ plenipotentiary Jędrzej Sadowski. – I’m afraid that the Speaker made such decision because of the election. He didn’t want this inconvenient issue to appear during the campaign. – he added.

The bill prepared by the government is in Sejm.

Work on changes in regulations concerning lack of criminal liability for possession of small amount of drugs is now in progress. On the 24th of August, the government send an amendment to a drug addiction prevention bill to Sejm. The amendment accepts withdrawal from prosecution for possession of drugs for one’s personal use.

According to the bill, prosecutor and court can withdraw from prosecution for possession of dazing agents or psychoactive substances if a person has small amount of drugs for one’s own use and is not a drug dealer. Ministry of Justice claims that such situation is marked by low social harmfulness. The bill proposed by ‘Free Hemp’ is much more liberal. – Changes in a drug addiction prevention bill should end punishing for possession of small amount of dazing agents, especially for possession of hemp – wrote the organizers of the Hemp Liberation March in an occasional newspaper distributed during the event. The bill allows also growing hemp for one’s personal use.

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