A CITIZENS INITIATIVE TO CHANGE THE EUROPEAN LEGISLATION ON CANNABIS
The issue of cannabis policy reform is crucial to the construction of a safer, modern Europe that protects health and individual freedoms.
In recent years, legal regulations of cannabis have multiplied around the world. A new wind blows for cannabis regulation on the other side of the Atlantic. On the other hand, the tide doesn’t seem to have reached the european shore. The Netherlands’ unfinished policy of tolerance for commercialization through decriminalized coffee shops goes back nearly 40 years ago; in Portugal 15 years of decriminalization still don’t address the regulation of illicit markets; in Spain, non-for-profit cannabis users clubs have extended among the last 20 years, but only thanks to a legal vacuum.
Most of EU Member States are still pursuing outdated prohibitionist policies.
Despite polls showing that in a growing part of the European countries public opinion is ready to legally regulate cannabis, the issue still remains outside the agenda of national governments.
But what would happen if a huge citizen mobilization rose on cannabis regulation in Europe?
Today, a network of activists is working on launching a European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) to change European regulation on cannabis. The focus is the Council Framework Decision 2004/757/JHA of 25 October 2004, laying down minimum provisions on the constituent elements of criminal acts and penalties in the field of illicit drug trafficking.
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE OR JOIN ACTIVISTS WORKING ON THE PROJECT, PLEASE CONTACT LORENZO MINEO
READ The European Way to Legal Cannabis, a Policy Paper by Lorenzo Mineo, Benjamin Jeanroy, Mattia Moro, Kenzi Riboulet-Zemouli
