Czechs lead Europe in marijuana smoking

February 8, 2008

Less than four years after their entrance into the European Union, Czechs have become some of the continent's best cannabis consumers. It's an image that the country is not especially proud of.
"Everybody must get stoned," sang Bob Dylan, The Doors, the Wailers... and the list of bands endorsing marijuana goes on and on. Their message is clear: Weed is a soft drug so let's roll, folks!
Nowadays the consumption of cannabis, most commonly known as marijuana, has increased hugely. It's illegal in many countries, and, although considered a soft drug, many doctors keep sounding the alarm about its side effects. Still, weed has long been common at parties, from high school on.
Recently the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction published a report on the consumption of drugs within Europe, which ranked Czechs as the heaviest smokers of cannabis in Europe. Among Czechs of age 16-34, almost 30 percent said they consumed marijuana in the past year. By overtaking the Netherlands in soft drug consumption, the Czech Republic is now raising serious concerns about the regulation of cannabis and its spread.
In 1938 production and possession, but not the consumption, of drugs became a punishable crime in Czechoslovakia. However, the law did not differentiate between different types of drugs. Until the Velvet Revolution in 1989, drugs were only a minor problem in Czech society. Then, in 1992, a law decriminalized drug possession for personal use. Six years later, the "possession of more than a small amount of drugs" became a criminal offence again.
The exact definition of "a small amount" has been legally unclear ever since but this eventually defined in terms of marijuana as less than 20 grams - but, although not a crime, the holder of the amount could still be cited. Consumption remains legal, however, making the enforcement of the law problematic.
In 2007, the Supreme Court of the Czech Republic decided that mere cultivation of hemp, from which marijuana is derived, should not be punishable unless it can be proven that it's being grown for drug cultivation. Also in 2007 several initiatives were forwarded calling for either for the decriminalization of marijuana or its reclassification into a more tolerated category of soft drugs.
David Colleuil , 23, a French tourist in Prague, sits in a bar not far from Charles Bridge, having few beers while passing a joint to his friends. When asked if it's is easy to get marijuana in Prague compared to France, he replies emphatically.
"Don't even say it - you cannot even compare. In Prague you just have to wander in the streets and some people will come to you and whisper 'marijuana' and you can buy from them. But you have to check the quality and the amount because some people will try to rip you off since you are a tourist. In France, you need to know the right people and it is even harder nowadays because of the new president. Here in Prague you just arrive and the plan is going to come to you."
One of his friends, Michael Bonnet, adds his experience: "Besides, here it is not even like if you were breaking the law. You can see people smoking in the streets without anybody paying attention, which is even more of an incentive to smoke freely, like in bars for example, as soon as the waiters do not say anything."
No sooner has Bonnet has finished than a girl at the next to table comes over to asks if she can borrow some rolling paper.
This kind of situation is more and more common across Prague, where a lot of young tourists come to visit the great architecture of the city - but also to take advantage of the Czech Republic's new status as kings of pot smoking in Europe.
The controversies about the drug's legal status will continue until its clear whether the country will join Holland and Switzerland as one of the few on the continent where cannabis is officially tolerated.