Government to consider legalizing marihuana

A controlled cannabis market could bring an additional 15 billion crowns in taxes annually to the state budget, national anti-drug coordinator Jindřich Vobořil said at a press briefing at which he outlined the basis of a long-term strategy to fight addiction and trading in illegal substances. The strategy, which is to be finalized by the end of the year, envisages legalizing the sale of marijuana under strict conditions, taxation of addictive substances depending on how harmful they are, the launch of a regulated cannabis market and increased government spending on addiction prevention and treatment. Spending on prevention, now at around 300 million crowns, should rise to one billion crowns annually.