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legal status of cannabis in Belgium?
Spiritual_Chaos
Posts: 29,106
Is it legal like in neighboar country Holland or illegal?
"Mostly I think that people react sensitively because they know you’ve got a point"
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Fargo 2003
Winnipeg 2005
Winnipeg 2011
St. Paul 2014
In Belgium the use of cannabis is tolerated. For example, a man was caught on the highway between the Netherlands and Belgium with fifteen grams of cannabis. Later, he was also caught in his workplace (he is a cook) with five grams of cannabis and the police were informed. He and his boss were interviewed. There was an inquiry and the man stated that he was consuming cannabis at home for his own pleasure; he was not dealing anything and was happy in his life with no problems. He also said in a later interview that he had quit his habit so the prosecutor ended the lawsuit against him. Therefore, he was never sued and he never came before a court.
There is tolerance if a person says that he/she will quit their habit but otherwise there could be problems. A user who has been caught will be asked by the police to give urine tests and be interviewed a few times. If the habit is continued, the user may go before a court. In another case, a man refused a urine test saying that he was continuing his habit and he is now before the court in Brussels. His defence was to claim a violation of his privacy with arguments based on the European Convention of Human Rights. It is doubtful that he will succeed in Belgium but he might in the court of Strasbourg.
The situation of tolerance in Belgium was put into force by an act of the Ministry of Justice. This Act states that if someone is caught with, for example, fifteen grams of cannabis and claims that he only tried it once, he will not be prosecuted. Many criticisms can be made about this situation. The decision to sue someone is in the hands of a prosecutor and the prosecutor will do so only on really arbitrary motives. For example, if you are in poor social circumstances or are unemployed, you will be sued, but if you have a good job or come from a good family then you will not have any problems. One of the basic principals of the French Revolution was that the law must be applied in the same way to everyone, and we really must stand on that position of legality. Whether you are sued or not before a tribunal should not depend on social characteristics.
Fargo 2003
Winnipeg 2005
Winnipeg 2011
St. Paul 2014