On Wednesday April 25, at 9 AM, the local court of Antwerpen will issue a verdict in the trial against trhe association of cannabis producers Trekt Uw Plant . This verdict will be of great importance for the debate on cannabis legislation in Belgium. After the verdict there will be a short press conference on the stairs of the Palace of Justice at the Bolivarplaats.
*What is this trial about?*
On 12 December 2006, six members of the association Trekt Uw Plant (among them member of parliament Stijn Bex of SPIRIT) presented a collective cannabis plantation to the public in the Botanic Garden of Antwerp (Belgium). Following a positive recommendation by the Antwerp police, department for public order, the Antwerp local authorities had authorized this event.
During the transport from the Botanic Garden to the definitive location of this plantation, the Antwerp Drug Squad interfered. Four members were arrested and the plantation, 1 mother plant and 5 clones, was confiscated. However, in organising the plantation, the association had operated exactly according to a ministerial guideline on cannabis, which was signed in January 2005 by minister Onkelinx and all 5 main prosecutors (procureurs-generaal) in Belgium.
The 2005 ministerial guideline states that the possession of maximum 3 grammes or 1 cannabis plant by an adult person are no longer prosecuted. This guideline has come about after years of parliamentary debates. Its aim is to protect individual cannabis consumers against unnecessary judicial prosecution.
In this case the court has to choose between two possibilities.
Either the court applies the ministerial guideline and the charges against Trekt Uw Plant are dropped. In that case an opening in Belgian law has been forced in the area of cannabis cultivation. This means that associations like Trekt Uw Plant can start to operate in the whole of Belgium.
Or the court ignores the guideline and Trekt Uw Plant is convicted. In that case the exact opposite of what was aimed at by the legislator occurs. Criminal prosecution for individual cannabis consumers forces half a million cannabis consumers in Belgium to provide themselves from the black market. This would be very good news for people who are profiting financially from this market.
The consequences of this situation became painfully clear recently when the Belgian Scientific Institute of Public Health announced that polluted cannabis (with minuscule glass particles) had been sold on the Belgian market. This type of practices belongs to a sector which is absolutely impossible to control. This sector does not respect age limits, so it is absolutely impossible to protect minors against the effects of the illegal market.
Trekt Uw Plant vzw is an initiative of concerned and engaged citizens. We wish to enable adult cannabis consumers to cultivate their plant under controlled circumstances in the collective plantation of the association, and thus avoid the disadvantages of the illegal market.
On Saturday May 5, Trekt Uw Plant will organise on the Vrijdagmarkt in Antwerpen the yearly Global Marihuana March that will take place that day in more than 200 cities. More information:
TREKT UW PLANT (vzw)
Lange Lozanastraat 14
2018 Antwerpen
Bélgium
Tel. -32 3 293 0886 - GSM: -32 479 982271 / -32 495 122 644
E-mail: info@encod.org / hardcoreharmreducer@gmail.com
www.trektuwplant.be and
www.cannaclopedia.be
Location:
Belgium
