Cannabis in Slovakia

Cannabis in Slovakia is illegal. Possession or use of small amounts of cannabis (or only 1 joint) is punishable by up to eight years in prison.[1][2] In April 2012, The Wall Street Journal reported that Robert Fico, the incoming Slovak prime minister, might push for partial legalisation of cannabis possession, and has argued for the legalisation of possession of up to three doses of cannabis for personal use.[2]

Proposed reform

In February 2018, Justice Minister Lucia Žitňanská raised the issue of decriminalization of drugs in Slovakia. For example, in the case of a first detained joint, a cannabis cigarette, the offender would be punished only by offense. The criticism of the offense would only be highlighted after a repeated violation of the law within 12 months. However, the measure would not apply equally to all. For people under the age of 18, the automatic duty of medical diagnosis, social counseling, or even treatment of drug addiction would result.[3] The decriminalized drugs and amounts were proposed as: cannabis up to 1g, pervitin up to 0.2g, heroin up to 0.5g, cocaine up to 0.3g.

Žitňanská also argued that the working group had been working on the proposal since 2013 and should help to improve the government's insight into drug traffickers, their punishment, and the uniform criminalization of drug users in the polluted sphere. Slovak National Party (SNS) officials disagreed with any law that would legalize drugs, ease access to their acquisition, or legitimize distribution and use. They also referred to the unsubstantiated allegations that they are closing people in jail in Slovakia. However, the SNS has emphasized that the prosecution is either more criminal or recidivist. The SNS declined the decriminalization of small amounts of drugs; its leader Andrej Danko did not even want to deal with cannabis and said: "I do not believe we live in a state where 30% of young people try the drug."[4] Rather than decriminalization, SNS highlighted prevention. They did not support the proposal to decriminalize the so-called hard drugs, which Žitňanská later proposed to remove for the purpose of coalition satisfaction. Žitňanská did not have the full support of her party in the struggle for a change in drug policy.

After Žitňanská left the Ministry of Justice, Gábor Gál joined the political party Most-Híd and assessed there was no political will in the government coalition to allow Justice Minister Gál to submit an amendment to the law on partial decriminalization of cannabis. Whether this issue is still open until the deadline for the ordinary parliamentary elections in 2020 is not yet known.[5][6]

References

  1. ↑ "High contrast". The Economist. London: Economist Newspaper. 26 August 2010. ISSN 0013-0613. OCLC 60625410. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  2. 1 2 Rousek, Leos (3 April 2012). "Slovakia's Incoming Leftist Premier Wants to Relax Tough Cannabis Laws". The Wall Street Journal. New York, NY: Dow Jones. ISSN 0099-9660. OCLC 43638285. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  3. ↑ "Ako argumentovala Žitňanská?". focus.hnonline.sk.
  4. ↑ Dugovič, Matej. "Danko neverí, že tretina mladých skúsila drogu – tu sú dôkazy". dennikn.sk.
  5. ↑ "Minister Gál chce opäť otvoriť tému drogovej politiky, návrh najskôr predstaví SNS a Smeru-SD - Bleskové správy". bleskovespravy.sk. 14 June 2018.
  6. ↑ "V koalícii nie je v súčasnosti vôľa na čiastočnú dekriminalizáciu mäkkých drog". spravy.pravda.sk. 13 August 2018.
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