06/05/2007 16:00:00
Czech Rep: Million Marihuana March 2007 takes over Letna
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About fifteen hundred mostly young people took part in the annual
Million Marihuana March in Prague on Saturday afternoon to support the
cause of marihuana legalization in the Czech Republic. After crossing
the Vltava River and arriving at Letna Plain, the crowd grew in numbers
and enjoyed an afternoon of live music, dancing, beer, and, naturally,
some illicit substances.
The march began in Old Town Square, Prague's Letna Plain was enveloped
in a haze of marihuana smoke on Saturday afternoon. The venue, best
known in the past for hosting communist May Day rallies and, more
recently, the largest anti-regime demonstration of November 1989, was
taken over by supporters of marihuana legalization. After the Million
Marihuana March arrived here from Old Town Square, the demonstration
broke into a big party.
It has been ten years since the first legalization gathering and David
Cermak, the organizer of the event, explains what progress he has seen
since the first marches in Prague.
"We are seeing a really big difference, because there were big problems
in the first years. The authorities thought that we were some kind of
criminals. But this time, we don't have problems with them. In the Czech
Republic, marihuana is almost legal, but not according to the laws."
As far as marihuana use is concerned, the Czech Republic is already a
very tolerant country. According to a 2006 poll carried out by the
Institute of Health Information and Statistics of the Czech Republic,
every fourth Czech has some experience with cannabis. Possession of the
drug for personal use is legal and the activists are now calling for the
legalization of cannabis for medicinal purposes as well as growing
marihuana plants for personal use. Will campaigns similar to the Million
Marihuana March influence the legal situation? Jiri X. Dolezal,
journalist and a pioneer of cannabis advocacy, does not quite agree.
"I don't think it will help legalization, but it's good promotion, a
good party, and that is why I think it's really meaningful."
But Dolezal believes that over the last decade there has been a change
in the perception of marihuana on the part of the public as well as the
authorities involved, including the police.
"The last ten, eleven years have been full of changes and our situation
today is incomparable to the situation in 1996 when the repressive
powers started their fight. They changed the law and they wanted to
start a war on drugs. They were not successful, and today the situation
about marihuana is so peaceful that legalization is not a political
question, because it is not interesting for anybody. The society reached
a consensus about marihuana."
A new Czech Criminal Code, which was before Parliament last March but
was rejected for a variety of reasons, envisaged growing marihuana for
personal use. This year, however, the MPs will vote again on a new set
of criminal laws. When does Jiri X. Dolezal see change finally happening?
"I hope this autumn. It will not be legal in the Dutch sense, we will
not have coffee shops, but growing for personal use will be legal, and
that's enough for Czechs."
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/91090
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=12535
Author:
Radio Prague via UKCIA
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