Civil society supports government proposal to reform drug laws in the Czech Republic

By Drugreporter

While the Czech parliament discusses the amendment to the Criminal Code that would effectively decriminalise drug use, the Constitutional Court has repealed part of the law concerning small amounts of cannabis and ‘magic’ mushrooms.

An important amendment to the Substance Abuse Act is being debated in the Chamber of Deputies, which is very important for the whole area of drug policy. It is a government proposal by the Ministry of Health, to which a large number of amendments of various quality and content have been tabled. However, three of these amendments, if adopted, can mark a positive breakthrough in the field of drug policy and addiction care in the Czech Republic.

These are amendments laid by Mr Tomáš Vymazal, Deputy Minister for Health Care, which would allow the creation of supervised consumption rooms for controlled use of drugs, would allow for testing of the chemical composition of drugs in, for example, dance clubs and would get rid of unnecessary criminalisation for the processing of small quantities of cannabis. On Thursday, May 13, the amendment was debated by the House Health Committee.