Antwerp “Cannabis Social Club” installs a new collective plantation

4 april 2009

The association of cannabis producers and -consumers Trekt Uw Plant (Draw Up Your Plant) will install in the coming weeks, somewhere in Belgium, a cannabis plantation based on the principle 1 plant per person. Everyone who becomes a member of the association can recieve his or her plant before November 1st, 2009, on the condition that he/she meets all the requirements: to be adult, live in Belgium and consume cannabis.

Since 2005, a ministerial guideline exists in Belgium, which makes the possession of max. 3 grammes of cannabis or 1 female plant a non-persecutable offense. On 12 december 2006 Trekt Uw Plant presented its first collective cannabis plantation, consisting of 1 motherplant and 5 clones. This plantation was confiscated and 4 of the involved members were arrested few hours later.

In May 2007 these members were condemned by the local Antwerp court to a fine of 15 euros. More than a year later, in June 2008, the Court of Appeal acquitted them, as it considered the action to be an offense and not a crime. An offense which, as stated by the ministerial guideline of 2005, could only be sanctioned by a simple registration (a so-called VPV, Vereenvoudigd Proces Verbaal).

From this verdict Trekt Uw Plant concludes that the installation of a collective plantation is according to the intention of the ministerial guideline: by not persecuting any longer the possession and cultivation of cannabis for personal use, the police and justice apparatus can use its ressources on organised crime, and the policy towards cannabis consumption can focus on public health.

The aim of Trekt Uw Plant is, according to the statutes of the association, to enable its members to collectively grow 1 cannabisplant per person. In the past years, the District Attorney has demanded two times to obtain the dissolution of the association. Both times, the court has denied to do this.

By growing plants for the personal consumption of its members, Trekt Uw Plant creates a healthy alternative for the illegal market, and for the so-called “drug tourism” to coffeeshops in the Netherlands. The association uses ecological grow methods, without any risk for adulteration or contamination of the substance, such as is the case on the black market. Contrary to the illegal trade, Trekt Uw Plant is not accessible to minors.

Everyone who becomes a member of Trekt Uw Plant by 9 May 2009 at the latest, during the Worldwide Marijuana March in Antwerp, (see the membership form) can receive his / her plant before 1 november 2009, on condition that he/she can prove to live in Belgium, be adult and a cannabis consumer.

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