Sat, Nov 07 2009

Croatian supreme court allows marijuana for stressed-out war veteran

Tue, Jun 09 2009 10:31 CET byClive Leviev-Sawyer 7155 Views 4 Comments
Croatian supreme court allows marijuana for stressed-out war veteran

Croatia’s supreme court has overthrown on appeal a jail sentence given to a war veteran who used marijuana to calm his nerves, with the court saying that his use of the drug against Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was legitimate.
 
Technically, what the court did was to declare the man’s use of marijuana a "meaningless act" under Croatian law, which means that he could not be prosecuted.
 
Identified in Croatian media reports as "KD", the man was reported to be one of up to 18 000 veterans of the 1991-95 war.
 
A court in his home town of Virovitica, about 100km east of the capital city Zagreb, sentenced him to jail – in line with common practice in Croatia where courts come down hard on drug consumption – for growing marijuana plants and being in possession of 67.71g of marijuana.
 
On appeal, the supreme court overturned the jail sentence on June 3 2009, saying that it had taken into consideration "that the defendant suffers from PTSD…marijuana relaxes him and helps him to overcome psychological problems".
 
While the ruling is being seen as a precedent in cases of war veterans with PTSD, media reports quoted authorities as saying that strict sentences for drug cultivation, selling and consumption remained in effect.
 

Comments

Anonymous cro Thu, Jul 09 2009 23:49 CET
Inappropriate comment?

in croatia for 1 marihuana cigar 3 years in prison

Anonymous newageblues Wed, Jun 10 2009 01:09 CET
Inappropriate comment?

It's been said over and over again, but many people are still in denial: alcohol is far more deadly and dangerous than cannabis. That's not just an opinion, that's the statistics. Forcing people to use alcohol to get high increases alcohol related violence, along with the black market related violence it creates when large numbers of people refuse to obey the order to only use alcohol. Distinguishing between problems caused by a drug (or herb, cannabis is both) itself and problems caused by its prohibition is necessary for sound drug policy.

Anonymous Legalize Cannabis Tue, Jun 09 2009 21:15 CET
Inappropriate comment?

well said Price!

It's about time the EU woke up to the FACT that Marijuana is a legitimate therapeutical medicine and people that use it either for recreational or medicinal use should not be criminalized for what is in fact a victimless crime!

Where is the victim if an individual grows and smokes Marijuana in there own home?


Anonymous Price Tue, Jun 09 2009 14:50 CET
Inappropriate comment?

Do you have to be an ignorant and hateful person to work in law enforcement in every country? Their supreme court recognizes the huge benefit to one of their wounded veterans and drops all charges but the "police" remind him that its illegal to get it. WTF? They should be finding it for him.

Write comment

Name:Comment:

Generate new code
Send your comment
Marijuana farm busted near Sliven

The officers stumbled across a 300 sq m marijuana plantation.

Ukiah Daily Journal: Bulgarians arrested in massive marijuana raid

As part of a wider operation encompassing also Russian and American marijuana growers, the authorities have seized more than 20 000 marijuana plants, which were subsequently destroyed.

Cannabis growing equals two years prison

Two years behind bars and a 5000 leva fine for growing weed worth less than 2000 leva. The court ruled that all appeals are forbidden.

Police in Montenegro arrest 25 people for smuggling 2.5 tons of 'skunk' marijuana

Police officer among group arrested; group said to have been smuggling from Albania to Western Europe. Reports say Russian mafia involved.

Space cake lands Bulgarian in Dutch court

A space cake (a marijuana filled cake) that 31-year old Bulgarian V.C. consumed in a coffee shop in Amsterdam was the cause of his disruptive and violent behaviour on a plane to London on June 29, Dutch prosecutors told the court in The Netherlands on October 10, Dutch daily Parool reported.

Kosovo, cheapest narcotics in region

Kosovo has the lowest street-market prices for narcotics among all Balkan countries and drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and heroin are affordable even for teenagers, Balkan Insight can reveal. Narcotic prices in the newborn country are the lowest in the region, when compared with prices in neighbouring countries.

ONE THIRD OF BULGARIAN SCHOOL CHILDREN TRIED DRUGS THIS YEAR

One third of Bulgarian school children in the 9th to 12th grade have at least once tried narcotics in the past year. Compared to data from 2003, the number of school children who have tried some kind of drug, has increased with 6 per cent, Momchil Vasilev of the head of the National Focus Centre said. Between 35 and 40 000 school children have tried cannabis in the past 30 days. Around 15 to 20 000 of them use on a regular basis, Vasilev said.

Sounding Board - Marijuana debate smoulders on

WHILE one appreciates the concerns of Dutch expats Marlene Smits and Koos Schouten in the article (The Sofia Echo, May 21) on zero tolerance in Bulgaria, as I read it I also watched modern day tourism of Bulgaria recede by maybe a third?

Reading Room - Dutch joint statements

Following the recent controversy in the pages of The Sofia Echo about Bulgaria's new law that will mean that even those caught with only a single dose of marijuana could be sent to jail, two Dutch-born expat contributors to The Echo, MARLENE SMITS and KOOS SCHOUTEN, give their perspectives.

Family Matters - A criminal's plea

DEAR President Purvanov and People of Bulgaria, I'm a criminal. Yes, I've inhaled and I still do, from time to time.

More in this category

Debating ‘Enlargement lite’

Assessing the EU’s European Neighbourhood Policy and its Eastern Partnership

Debate about Bulgaria’s leverage over Macedonia

With Bulgaria angered by what it sees as Macedonia’s territorial claims, some say that Sofia should use EU membership hopes as leverage against Skopje; but minister for Bulgarians abroad Bozhidar Dimitrov says Macedonia’s elite does not really want the country in the EU.

Macedonian, Greek prime ministers ‘break the ice’ in name dispute talks

Greek prime minister George Papandreou and his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Gruevski met for more than an hour in Brussels, agreeing that it was essential to find a solution to the dispute over the name Macedonia.

Moldova offered $588M IMF lifeline

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on October 28 that it reached a "staff-level agreement" to lend Moldova the equivalent of $588 million over a period of three years.

Serbia, IMF ‘close to agreement’ on fiscal policies for 2010

Belgrade and the International Monetary Fund have agreed ‘informally’ that Serbia’s 2010 budget deficit should be about four per cent, prime minister Mirko Cvetkovic has said.

© 2000-2009, Sofia Echo Media Ltd.

Web Design by RIZN

Sofia Echo Media is part of the Economedia Group.
The news and information content on this website is provided by our editorial team and is copyrighted. Any unauthorised reproduction or use of it is strictly forbidden. Reproduction of this website's content is permitted only with prior written permission from the Editor-in-Chief, should be propertly acredited and provide an active link back to our site. Comments posted by the website's visitors are independent of the editorial materials and do not represent the views of sofiaecho.com. Sofia Echo Media cannot be held responsible for the statements contained in visitor comments. The percentаge change in the shares' prices are based on the price of the last transaction of the current session compared to the price of the last transaction of the previous session. Bulgarian Stock Exchange data is not real-time, but updated every 15 minutes, and should not be used as a basis for decisions about buying or selling stock options.