Polish Legislative Committee Takes Step Toward Decriminalizing Cannabis
A legislative committee in Poland recently sent a cannabis reform proposal to Prime Minister Donald Tusk for his consideration. Members of the Polish Parliamentary Committee on Petitions moved forward with the proposal which would decriminalize up to 15 grams of cannabis for personal use by adults in addition to decriminalizing home cultivation of one plant.
“Tusk has 30 days to respond to the petition, which is not legally binding as it would be for a formal bill. The petition, or “dezyderat,” is more of a request from the legislative body for action on the issue.” stated Marijuana Moment in its initial coverage.
“The prime minister will be required to provide a written response with details about any steps the administration will take, an explanation if they don’t intend to act on it or a referral to another agency.” the outlet also stated.
“The committee has just finished considering the petition I submitted to the Sejm, together with a bill assuming the decriminalization of possession of up to 15 g and the cultivation of 1 plant for one’s own needs.” stated Polish activist Przemysław Zawadzki about the proposal in a social media post (translated from Polish to English). Zawadzki is the CEO & co-founder of Freedom Farms SA.
“Everything went basically according to plan and with the support of MP Marcin Józefaciuk – Your MP who, contrary to the suggestion contained in the absurd opinion of the Sejm Expertise Office to reject my project, requested that a desideratum be sent to Prime Minister Donald Tusk in this matter and the Commission agreed to this. Thanks also to Łukasz Rydzik for his support on the Commission.” Zawadzki said.
“We are therefore waiting for the position of the Prime Minister, who has recently spoken publicly several times that it is worth ending the punishment for a joint and will not interfere with this, and at the same time we are working on other fronts. This path is one of many because we want to clearly indicate that cannabis users exist and their problem related to the penalization of possession of herb is real and serious.” Zawadzki also stated.
Cannabis is currently legal for adult use in Malta, Luxembourg, and Germany, as well as in Uruguay, Canada, and South Africa. Cannabis is also legal for adult use in roughly half of the states in the U.S. and regional adult-use cannabis commerce pilot trials are operating in the Netherlands and Switzerland.