Czech Drug Laws as an Arena of Drug Policy Battle

This paper begins with a brief overview Czech drug policy and drug-related issues. The second section concentrates on how that policy has evolved since the fall of communism, identifies the main players in these events, and provides some details about the legislative procedure that eventually led to the reintroduction of punishments for the possession of illegal drugs. The paper describes in broad terms a major scientific evaluation of the impacts of recent legislative changes and subsequent government reactions to that report. Recent developments in the Czech drug policy debate are addressed in the third section of the paper. This account focuses on the ongoing legislative debate over whether the possession of drugs for personal use should be a criminal offense (this issue has been contested for nearly 10 years). Finally, a controversial legislative proposal that was only recently issued by the Ministry of Justice will be described.