Editor-in-chief of Czech Republic’s Cannabis Magazine found guilty of publishing weed content

Robert Veverka is the editor-in-chief and publisher of a Czech publication called Legalizace, which has been in existence since 2010. According to Volteface, it often contained content about how to obtain cannabis illegally, how to grow the plant, and how to process and use it. Occasionally, it also included seed packs, since the sale and possession of cannabis seeds is legal, as well as advertisements for fertilizers or seed banks.

It started five years ago when a local Czech grower was caught growing 38 cannabis plants with seeds included in Legalizace. Although the breeder planned to use cannabis to make a topical cream for himself, law enforcement began taking a closer look at the Veverka and his journal.

Veverka was brought to court as of summer 2020. By November 2021, the Bruntál District Court fined Veverka 50,000 Kč (or Czech koruna, which is approximately $2,200). According to presiding judge Marek Stach, Veverka was guilty of publishing more than 200 articles between 2010 and 2020 that could mislead readers into illegal acts related to cannabis. Stach added that “just a single article with the potential to goad readers is enough for Legalizace magazine to expose the crime of instigating and promoting Toxicomania,” according to a Legalizace press release, published by the International Cannabis Business Conference was treated.

Veverka chose to appeal this original verdict, claiming he was sentenced under a “rubber law.” “It’s very flexible [and] contains a paragraph stating that the promotion of illegal substances, with the exception of alcohol, can be considered a crime,” he said of the law in an interview with CannaReporter.

Most recently, in March, Veverka was convicted in a regional court in Ostrava, the third largest city in the Czech Republic, of “inciting drug abuse” and “spreading drug addiction through his magazine”. The next step would be for Veverka to appeal to the Supreme and Constitutional Court. “I will try to take this to the highest courts to protect not only myself but any other media outlet that chooses to write about cannabis,” Veverka told Prague Morning.

In an interview with Cannabis Therapy on March 13, Veverka spoke about the recent verdict. “I feel branded, damaged and personally disgusted,” Veverka said. “Unfortunately, the ruling lends credibility to the prosecution’s case, which reflects an ignorance of cannabis legislation and is based on a generally repressive view that positive information about cannabis is unacceptable to the establishment. Moreover, after my three-year indictment and the court’s verdict, publishing is even an illegal activity.”

“The court’s verdict refers to a section in the law on the dissemination of ‘toxicomania’ – poison addiction – a Bolshevik relic from the days of the totalitarian communist regime that also prosecuted and punished people for inappropriate opinions,” he continued.

The current verdict leaves Veverka with the choice of either paying 250,000 CZK (about $11,000 USD) or going to jail. “I definitely disagree with the verdict: I consider the punishment for the dissemination of objective and comprehensive information – even on such a controversial issue as the regulation and use of cannabis – to be systematic misjudgment and punitive bullying,” said Veverka.

However, he ended the interview by stating that this will not stop him from championing cannabis and eventually publishing his magazine in the future. “I still have obligations to my readers, so I’m not giving up on the idea of ​​a relaunch [Legalization] magazine,” he said. “Therefore, I very much hope that I will read the reasoning of the judgment exactly where and with what I committed the offense of ‘distributing intoxication’ in order to avoid any illegal activity in the future. Otherwise re-publishing becomes very difficult because you cannot do business in a cloud of legal uncertainty.”

Next, he plans to attend the 2023 Million Marijuana March demonstration, which is scheduled for late May.

Cannabis has been decriminalized in the Czech Republic since 2010 and medicinal cannabis became legal in 2013. Recreational cannabis use and possession is not legal, but the Czech government is working on a bill to regulate the industry, which was originally scheduled to be unveiled in March 2023, according to Forbes. In October 2022, the Czech Republic’s Drugs Commissioner, Jindřich Vobořil, stated that the Czech Republic was coordinating with German officials to develop a similar approach to adult cannabis legalization.