Source: ČeskéNoviny.cz

Author: ČTK

03.03.2008

Prague- The Czech Supreme Court has upheld a complaint of a woman who had grown cannabis for medical purposes and who had been found guilty of illegal production and possession of drugs by lower level courts and ordered the Prague City Court to deal with her case again.

“The growing of cannabis is not the production of a drug,” the court panel headed by Vladimir Jurka said four weeks ago in the verdict that was published on its website now.

Police found 70 plants of cannabis in the woman’s vegetable garden. She said she used them to treat her illnesses. She suffered from sole pain and an ulcer and said that her doctor knew that she used cannabis.

The Supreme Court’s verdict does not mean legalising cannabis growing. The court stated, however, that the lower level courts should thoroughly prove whether the grower intended to produce marijuana from cannabis or just use it for medical purposes.

The state attorney who supported the woman’s complaint said “doctors in the Czech Republic are aware of cannabis medical effects and its use is tolerated if positive results are registered.”

In 2005, the Supreme Court issued a verdict that could be interpreted that cannabis growing is legal unlike marijuana production and such interpretations appeared in the media.

The court refuted them and stated that cannabis growing without a permit is illegal since cannabis is a drug.

However, the court said that cannabis growing could not be automatically identified with the production of drugs and courts should thus thoroughly consider the circumstances of each individual case.

Republish