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Now on September 29, 2016
the Constitutional Court of
Georgia declares
unconstitutional the
imprisonment for use of
marijuana. The Court passed
judgment after the Supreme
Court's a number of
references
(#N771,775,776,777,786,787,788)
to the Constitutional Court.
Accordingly what is very
important, it is now the
Supreme Court’s contribution
in the decriminalization of
the use of marijuana.
The Constitutional Court in
this case primarily noted
that as it had already found
a violation of Article 17 of
the Constitution in the case
of Tsikarishvili v.
Parliament and the
punishment for purchase or
possession of marijuana up
to 70 grams had been
regarded disproportional and
as torture, inhuman and
degrading treatment and
punishment, than now Article
273 of the Criminal Code
should be also declared
unconstitutional in regards
to marijuana use, which is
not more dangerous than that
of possessing it. |
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The Current Article 273 of the
criminal code of Georgia
envisions responsibility up to
one year imprisonment for any
drug use and provides:
“Illegal manufacturing,
purchase, storage or illegal
consumption without medical
prescription of drugs, their
analogues or precursors in small
quantity for personal
consumption, by a person who has
been subjected to an
administrative penalty for the
commission of such an act, or
who has been convicted of this
crime, - shall be punished by a
fine or community service
from120 to 180 hours or by
imprisonment for up to a year.
Note: The fine defined in this
article shall not be less than
double the amount of the fine
determined by the relevant
article of the Administrative
Offences Code of Georgia”.
Administrative Offences Code of
Georgia - Article 45: Illegal
acquisition or possession small
amounts of drugs without a
purpose of distribution, and/or
their use without doctor’s
prescription, - will lead to a
fine of 500GL or, in exclusive
cases, according the
circumstances of a case and
personal characteristics of an
offender when this measure is
considered insufficient, - with
administrative imprisonment up
15 days.
Georgian Constitutional Court
continues the liberal moves
towards decriminalization of
marijuana and there are still
very important lawsuits pending
at the Court such as the
Ombudsman of Georgia v.
Parliament (claiming for full
decriminalization from
administrative and criminal
responsibilities regarding all
drugs); Konstantine Labartkava
(chairman of “New Vector”),
Malkhas Nozadze and Irakli
Gigolashvili v. Parliament; in
addition Vasil Mardaleishvili
submitted the lawsuit v.
Parliament. The plaintiffs in
this case alleging
unconstitutionality of the Law
on Combating Drug-Related Crime,
sections 1 and 2 of Article 3,
for 3-5 years deprivation of
rights of users such as driving
license, medical and/or
pharmaceutical practice and
establish, manage, or represent
a pharmacy; practice law; job
in pedagogical and educational
institutions; job in public
bodies - in treasury (budgetary)
institutions of the state and
local government; a right to be
elected; the right to
manufacture, purchase, store and
carry weapons. The plaintiffs in
addition alleging
unconstitutionality of Article
17, subparagraph a) of Law on
Public Service, which provides
that a person shall not be
recruited for public service if:
he/she has unexpunged conviction
for committing a premeditated
crime.
As it seems from the recent
developments in the drug policy
of Georgia, this country is not
far from full decriminalization
of marijuana and all the other drugs,
which finally will end the many
decades of the zero
tolerance/harshest drug policy
in this country, but what is the
most important Georgia already
moves towards the
decriminalization not by
political way of changing the
drug policy but in a litigation
way. Thus in this juncture there
is the strongest and stable
legal background not to ever go
back what it was like, the very
background which has been
created by Constitutional Court
and then through references of
the Supreme Court of Georgia.
The Constitutional Court
judgments are final and not
subject to appeal. |
