Greece: new drug law in effect (20-3-2013) - recreational cannabis still illegal to grow for personal use - hemp legalised

[Lebenszeichen]

Pertaining to cannabis, here's in brief the sorry excuse for a "progressive" narcotics law reformation that the domestic Troika concocted:

- "up to" 5 months imprisonment for growing for personal use

- bunch of vaguely defined (and impossible to scientifically quantify) criteria for the court to determine the personal nature of the use

- vaguely defined discretionary power for a court to assess the offense as "circumstantial" and "unlikely" to be repeated, and thus spare the perpetrator from the penalty

- any such penalty does not register in a person's criminal record

- it's 8 years to life though, should the regime wish to turn you into a scapegoat, for some reason (and, trust me, there ARE plenty of those currently in Greece - especially political ones)

(link to the official text in greek: http://www.et.gr/ido...spVR1UrURETkoE.)

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Regimes still need their "leveraging" mechanisms in place, to bend the will of the occasional "thorn on their side" that threatens their dominance of the recreational drug trade. Noting some particular key words of the latest bill makes me sad, realising how much political clout the ultra-far-right societal backwash, that constitutes the electoral base of the ruling parties, still wield:

"narcotics" - ALL substances are lumped together. The total disregard, for the large corpus of pharmacological and biochemical scientific knowledge on recreational chemical substances, is staggering.

"perpetrator" - Now, who's been a naughty, naughty little boy, "perpetrating"...stuff in the closet, hmm? 8-D

"life sentence" - Oh, the hypocricy of people patronising the masses by pretending that they are saving them from themselves!

[Dust]

thanks for the news on the laws there! And how was the law before this one? for example the "up to" 5 month what was it before? years? ^^

[KYGrow]

dude, you wanna see some retarded ass laws, look up the United States Federal Drug Statutes. These bastards have been kicking in doors and locking up good people for half a century now. The winds are changing here in the states though, two states have legalized recreational marijuana use, 16 states have medical, I do believe the train has left the station.

[Lebenszeichen]

thanks for the news on the laws there! And how was the law before this one? for example the "up to" 5 month what was it before? years? ^^

Previous drug law (3459/2006) stipulated 10 years imprisonment at minimum (and up to life for repeat offenses) for growing (including hemp). No distinction on personal use was made at all.

[Dust]

ok ok then it sounds like it's a pretty good new law Thanks for the info man

[Lebenszeichen]

ok ok then it sounds like it's a pretty good new law

Then I failed to communicate the backward essence of this piece of legalistic trash. I don't know about you, but I don't trust a regime, that has established its stranglehold on society through maltreatment of drug users, to give up its money-making industry of cannabis-related busts all that easily. Extrortion-driven raids from the executive branch and arbitrary judgement on which cases will be determined "for personal use" from the judicial, are going to be the order of the day. Technically you can still get life imprisonment for growing recreational cannabis, if the state-run mafia wants it.

[Dust]

yes of course they always keep a back door t fuck you if they need too, but that's the modern world sadly, lost of country are asshole. but well to go from 10 year mini to "up to" 5 month is pretty positive, it's not the answer we would like, but anything we can take i take ^^

[Lebenszeichen]

it's not the answer we would like, but anything we can take i take ^^

I guess you're right. I mean, why should anyone expect anything better from the birthplace of democracy? Viva la mafia throwing the underdogs the occasional boney!

[Dust]

i'm sure greece is not done with cannabis they are in pretty big troubles economicaly if i understood corectly what i see on the news recently, When they will finally see the money in it maybe they will think of something better

[Lebenszeichen]

The money you are refering to is hardly a secret, 20 years of the internet being around MUST have been of SOME help towards that end. Still, people seem content with having their lives screwed so that the OBVIOUS oligopoly continues.

[stupidguy]

I am to be prosecuted under the new law. I had an 8 plant personal grow in a dr90 tent with 400w hps. 12/12 from seed my plants were no more than 90cm high and one was a retard.

the police took all my personal belongings out and threw them on the floor. it took 3 days to fix the house. they confiscated every single thing to do with the grow, all my cash in the house from my legal business, any knives including typical tool knives, the kitchen scales, all mobile phones all were for repair except my main one which they confiscated and i never got it back, the camera for the door which they made a huge thing about even though i bought it legally. they were even going to confiscate the fans i use for the house as i dont have aircondition, any seeds including for legal plants.

i was in detention 2 days in conditions not acceptable for europe. 25 people in two rooms. one large bed for many people 4 single beds all taking up most of each room. one toilet no shower no toilet paper no soap no eyeglasses permitted, bullshit food once per day in the evening. we could order stuff like cigarettes and coffee but there were restrictions. if you had nobody on the outside you had only the clothes you came in and you wash them in bucket. poor ventilation although there was window everybody smoking and they ran this noisy extractor fan sometimes which you could blow smoke into and it would do nothing.

everybody was sick with flu and i had that for 2 weeks and nearly bust my lungs it was the worst flu i had ever had. most of the people in detention were illegals some had been there 3 months. i am out on bail and court is in maybe 3 years nobody knows there is a huge backlog of cases because of judges strikes and i am not permitted to leave greece and must register every month with the police. i am facing possible felony for 10 years although it looks possible for misdemeanor which will be forever on my record. my case is assisted because i have legal business and no priors. the court requires me to have psychiatric treatment. if i make any drug offense whatsoever before the court i apparently will be in deep shit and nobody can save me. if i had any class A drugs in the house or guns or anything illegal i would be in much deeper shit.

the police didnt know nothing about tent grows and had not seen weed that smelt so strong and thought it was the highest technology. they did not know about carbon filters or anything at all and thought my soil grow might be hydroponic. my organic garden was described in the police report as a laboratory. they busted me with the entire department like 10 cops. but they did not beat me or do anything like that and were honest in court saying the quantities were personal.

but the judge for the bail said it was very difficult for him with the charges although he did sympathise. if i had not achieved bail thanks to my lawyer i would be in prison now until the court in non european conditions and it would be very difficult to prepare my case. even where i went for photos there was no soap or toilet paper in the toilets and one cop was kind to me to take the handcuffs off so i could take a shit but quickly.

if you dont have money for good lawyer you will have problem. it is also very difficult to find lawyer as most run a mile when they hear drugs.

do not grow in greece unless you are insane. buy instead if you need and in small quantities let someone else take the major risk. never deal.

[Lebenszeichen]

i am facing possible felony for 10 years although it looks possible for misdemeanor which will be forever on my record.

...

if you dont have money for good lawyer you will have problem. it is also very difficult to find lawyer as most run a mile when they hear drugs.

do not grow in greece unless you are insane. buy instead if you need and in small quantities let someone else take the major risk. never deal.

This user is a fake. In my original post I made it very clear that convictions for personal use don't register into criminal records. Besides, noone in Greece uses "miles". )

I'd say he is either a cop or/and dealer making an awkward attempt to save his mafioso bussiness model, by trolling a cannabis-liberation forum with a stupid little "Montechristo biohazard" story as his first ever post. stupidguy's stupid.

[stupidguy]

even the judge who gave me bail said the new law is not good enough. nice i got bail otherwise i would be in jail until the court. who knows when that is. lawyer said 3 years maybe he doesnt know.

i hope i get that judge for the court but i could get another one with completely different attitude.

problem for me was that (1) someone called the police and said i was dealer. that is not correct. (2) i had a lot of cash in the house which was legal cash (money from my business, gifts from my family. i dont trust banks and always keep some money in the house.)

the main thing that got me bail was that i have legal business in greece.

its really annoying that i am prohibited to leave greece. i want to visit my country. i love greece so its a good place to be prohibited to leave until the court. i hope the court is soon and i take personal use not dealing charge. i think that is possible and my lawyer is only scaring me like they do. today i went to the police station to do my monthly sign on until the court.

sorry if i upset your cannabis liberation thread. i was upset when i posted. i stopped growing and using now and found other interests. i do fully support any kind of liberation. All plants were given to us by God. I grow other plants now. I think for people to have a private grow and buy equipment legally and seeds on the internet is a very nice thing. I hope the greek law is improved and maybe my case will help that.

I was growing because (a) i didnt want to go to dealers then i might buy harder stuff which made me big problem in the past. ( my personal grow was organic and good breeder strains. unfortunately i did not find strain i really liked. like with heavy narcotic forget the world and sleep effect. white widow was amazing producer though. nice plant. barneys acapulco gold was nice taste. ( b ) i was drinking too much in the evening (had many personal problems) and the only thing which worked for me best instead was weed so i could have clean head the next day not like alcohol. I started growing after not using for many years.

thanks for the comment that personal use convictions dont register into criminal records. i hope that is true. my lawyer said i will get criminal record for sure. maybe he is wrong.

i am annoyed too that the police took a very nice folding knife i had (which never left the house). it was very nice brand expensive and i had it for many years. and my kitchen scales too although they were bullshit from jumbo and never worked properly. it was impossible to weigh small weights on those scales they didnt even work good for macaroni.

[Lebenszeichen]

Ehh

even the judge who gave me bail said the new law is not good enough. nice i got bail otherwise i would be in jail until the court. who knows when that is. lawyer said 3 years maybe he doesnt know.

GO AWAY, TROLL! (and stop trying to phish my email...one PM was enough)

[stupidguy]

i actually offered to send Lebenszeichen copies of my court papers by email but anyway forget it.

[stupidguy]

I will post again after the court to update the thread.