The Pirate Party, which is part of the Czech government, estimates that legal cannabis products could bring in around 800 million euros in tax revenue every year.
The Czech government is planning to legalize the recreational use and sale of cannabis, reports German Radio’s foreign service Deutsche Welle (you switch to another service) and Forbes magazine (you will switch to another service).
The Czech Republic plans to coordinate the law change with Germany, which is also legalizing cannabis. The purpose of the countries is to share information and best practices to regulate the legal cannabis industry.
So far, there is no information on how the coordination of legalization projects would be implemented in practice.
At the end of September, the Czech government instructed the former head of the department responsible for drug policy in the country’s government by Jindřich Vobořil to draft a bill on legalization.
Vobořil is scheduled to present the first draft of the law in March 2023. According to Forbes, legalization could enter into force in the Czech Republic in early 2024.
The Pirate Party, which is part of the Czech government coalition, has pushed for the reform of cannabis laws. The party has calculated that legal cannabis products could bring in around 800 million euros in tax revenue every year.
The legal market would include companies and clubs
Vobořil told DW that there would be licensed companies in the Czech Republic that would be allowed to produce and sell cannabis under strict rules.
Vobořil writes on Facebook (you will switch to another service), that he thinks cannabis clubs should play some kind of role in the Czech model, at least initially. For example, there are clubs in Spain that are allowed to grow and sell cannabis to their members. According to Vobořil, no such clubs are likely to come to Germany.
Vobořil’s goal is also to promote that the smallest possible part of cannabis is used by smoking, because it is the most harmful use for health.
Alternative ways of use are, for example, vaping with a vaporizer and consuming cannabis mixed with food or drink.
Vobořil would like Germany and the Czech Republic to be able to export cannabis products to each other’s markets. Germany, on the other hand, has planned that all legal cannabis entering its market should be produced domestically.
Germany has asked To be evaluated by the EU Commission (you will switch to another service) legalization project. If the commission considers the draft to be in breach of EU legislation, the legalization may fall into it.
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