Zilos

BRUSSELS – New guidelines came into force on Tuesday stating when users of cannabis in Belgium should be prosecuted.

A law on the soft drug was passed in May 2003, making it clear that not everyone found in possession of cannabis should be taken to court.

However, in October 2004, the Court of Arbitration, which reviews new legislation in Belgium, branded the law "unconstitutional" because of the vagueness of some of its wording.

For instance, the law said people should be prosecuted if they were guilty of a "problematic use" of the drug.

The Court ruled that that description was unclear.

As a result, public prosecutors decided they could not apply
that part of the law, leaving the country in legal limbo over the drug.

But on Tuesday, the Justice Minister Laurette Onkelinx and the Public Prosecutors Office issued a joint directive designed to clarify the situation.

If anyone is found with less than 3 grammes of cannabis or with a plant being kept to produce dope for personal use, they should receive the lowest form of punishment – a verbal warning.

The police will store the warning on computer and send all warnings issued to the magistrates’ court on a monthly basis.

The police will have no right to confiscate the drug from users if it does not exceed 3 grammes.

A person will only be dealt with more severely if he or she is using cannabis in a school or youth centre or nearby, or in a public place, or a prison.

The federal Justice and Health departments are still drafting the text which will replace the May 2003 law.

The first proposals are expected to be considered by the cabinet in March.

In the meantime, public prosecutors will follow Tuesday's directive, with each prosecutor issuing legal teams with any additional guidance necessary according to local needs.

__________________
:: Posting Guidelines :: 420 Lounge :: Hemp Cultivation :: Myths :: Canadian Laws :: U.S. Laws :: Recipes ::

reggie_the_dog

Living next to Belgium I have to say this is great. I was in Belgium in 2003 and there were a few street dealers here and there, but I was on my way to the Netherlands so I didn't buy anything. People seemed to smoke openly in the street there but they do that here in France too and it is still illegal. This new directive is great, the police do not even have the right to confiscate it, I hope this verbal warning stuff will be dropped when the govt. makes their new official law. If the police can't take it from you what are they warning you about???? Basically you can be smoking a joint in public now so long as you don't have more than 3 grams on you. Lots of people in Belgium smoke hash, so three grams of hash is quite a few hashpipes you can smoke legally in the street......
The best thing now is that 2 countries with a large French speaking population now have decrim. Belgium, where around half the people speak French and Switzerland (where it is legal to grow, sell and have cannabis but not to smoke it which means no public use). Now every single country around France has official decriminilization. (Not counting tiny Luxembourg, Monnaco or Andorra
Belgium: grow, have, smoke cannabis, illegal for international accords but no penalty and no police right to take your cannabis
Germany, decrim in every state because of a court decision, some with a limit of 5 grams some with a limit of 30 grams and some states that let you grow your own but you can smoke and drive everywhere.
Italy, possession of drugs for personal use is a no penalty offence and they cannot confiscate your drugs for personal use
Spain, possession of drugs for personal use is a no longer an offence because of a court decision and they cannot confiscate your drugs of any kind and you can grow cannabis, you can't sell it today though, but they encourage growing to cut the black market.

Realistically within the next 3 years we could have the legal right to grow here in France, especially if the left continues to win elections (we gotta get rid of Chirac and Raffarin before they put police everywhere and fire a bunch of teachers).
Jack Lang, the Socialist (our main left party here) is well known and he has said that cannabis abosultely has to be legalized. (He was the minister of culture in charge of encouraging the arts, he came up a with a holiday called La Fête de la musique or "music festival" in which all throughout France anyone can play music of any kind in the street the first day of summer, all day, all night, in every town.) He has also gone to raves, had his photo taken, and said that he thinks youth music culture is great (he is about 55). When asked about the drug use at raves he said perhaps the solution would be to have a few nurses or paramedics on hand for large raves as they do for large concerts in case people "get sick". Talk about a hippie that didn't sell out.....

Belgium, not just home to waffles any more.

vladimir

belgium has been nice to potheads for a while, this law just sums up what has been happening in the country for a while. i still like that they made it official though, just to show that yet another country has come to reason.

GreenL1nk

Its nice to know that somewhere in the world marijuana is not totally looked down upon.

WNB

I had no idea there was such a large gap between the US and Europe's drug policies. Even California has harsh laws compared to what sounds like alot of Europe.

Time to rellocate?

__________________
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength