Tag: referendum

Slovenia voted on cannabis cultivation and use

Posted on by Milutin

Prepared using news from Radiotelevizija Slovenija

Together with European elections, Slovenia voted last weekend on 4 consultative referundums, out of which 2 were related to cannabis. The voters convincingly supported the use of cannabis for medical purposes, while with regard to support for the use of cannabis for personal use, the result was closer.

The referendum questions were: Should Slovenia allow the cultivation and processing of cannabis for medical purposes on its territory? and Should Slovenia allow the cultivation and possession of cannabis for limited personal use on its territory?

According to the partial unofficial results of the consultative referendum (99.95 percent of the votes were counted), voters supported the use of cannabis for medical purposes with a two-thirds majority – 66,65% voted in favour whilce 33,35% were against.

In the consultative referendum on the use of cannabis for limited personal use, the outcome is different. 99.98 percent of the votes were counted and 51,55% voted in favour while 48,45% were against.

The Pirate Party, as the organizers of the campaign for all three consultative referendums, welcomed the results, which show voter support for all four referendum questions. However, they are disappointed by the lack of substantive discussion regarding the referendum question on the cultivation and possession of cannabis for limited personal use.

The Youth Party of Green Europe is also disappointed by the lack of opportunities for quality debate in the referendum campaign. The party, which was among the organizers of the campaign for all three referendums, warned of a large amount of intimidation in the campaign, but stressed that they were satisfied with the outcome.

 

Marijuana Referendum blocked

Posted on by Milutin

From the Marijuana Moment webpage

Italian Constitutional Court on Tuesday blocked voters from being able to decide on a referendum to legalize marijuana in the country, despite the fact that activists turned in hundreds of thousands of signatures that were validated by a separate court last month.

Late last year, activists turned in about 630,000 signatures for the measure – which would have also legalized personal cultivation of other psychoactive plants and fungi like psilocybin mushrooms – to the Supreme Court of Cassation.

While the proposal as drafted would have legalized the cultivation of several plant-based drugs, it would leave in place the prohibition on processing them. Marijuana and certain entheogenic substances like psilocybin don’t require additional manufacturing, and thus would effectively be made legal. By contrast, even hashish would be banned because it does require processing raw marijuana to some extent. Meanwhile, a current decriminalized fine on possessing and using cannabis would have also remained in place if the referendum were approved.

That court announced last month that there were enough valid signatures for ballot placement, but the referendum still needed to be reviewed by the separate Constitutional Court, which was tasked with determining the legality of the proposal’s provisions.

On Wednesday 16 February, the Constitutional Court announced that the cannabis and psilocybin initiative did not meet constitutional standards and, therefore, will not be placed on a ballot for voters to decide. It also rejected a separate measure related to the right to euthanasia.

The Constitutional Court is charged with looking into whether referendums will conflict with the Constitution, the country’s fiscal system or international treaties to which Italy is a party. While advocates were confident that the limited the scope of the proposed reform would satisfy the legal standard, the 15-judge court disagreed.