New government to debate excise tax on psychoactive substances

The new government will discuss an excise tax on psychomodulatory substances. The incoming finance minister, Alena Schillerová (ANO), said this today at a press conference on new legislation regulating the sale of kratom at the Vietnamese shopping center Sapa in Prague. According to former national drug policy coordinator Jindřich Vobořil, taxing these substances in a manner similar to alcohol or nicotine could bring in billions of crowns annually. Fifty licensed brick-and-mortar shops are now allowed to sell kratom. About 400 tons are consumed annually in Czechia.