F<\/span>our years ago, Georgian artist, Beka Tsikarashvili, was arrested with a little over two ounces of cannabis \u2014 he would quickly become the poster child for the White Noise Movement, which pressured the government of Georgia to decriminalize\u00a0until last week, when Georgia\u2019s Constitutional Court delivered a verdict removing criminal penalties for\u00a0cultivation of cannabis for only personal use, right on the heels of major legal reforms made around possession last winter.<\/p>\n David Subellanine, one of the leaders of the White Noise Movement, celebrated with an announcement on social media:<\/p>\n \u201cHere we go \u2013 White Noise Movement won another Constitutional Complaint. Prison for growing weed not an option anymore!!!!! For now, this will be the case for plants in small size, but that\u2019s just the beginning,\u201d his post said. \u201cIn less than three years the White Noise Movement won three constitutional complaints. The current repressive system is breaking apart. Looking forward to entering into a post-criminalization phase which will be built on new, humane drug policy.\u201d<\/p>\n Things really heated up late last year when Georgian courts ruled people previously locked up for smoking marijuana could not be arrested again for using the drug. Activists said that, as a result, more than 100 people<\/a> imprisoned for possession have had their sentences commuted.<\/p>\n Still, after that case, Georgians were still facing penalties for possession and\/or distribution of cannabis, ranging from a $200 USD fine to 11 years in prison. Critics said<\/a> these penalties, along with an aggressive enforcement approach by the government, endangered people and did far more harm than cannabis itself.<\/p>\n Not long after that ruling, the Constitutional Court opened a case concerning the constitutionality of laws prohibiting cultivation: A case\u00a0expected to take a couple months ended up taking seven, but in the end, Georgians were granted the legal right to cultivate up to nearly a half pound for personal use.<\/p>\n The court decided imprisonment for cultivation of personal amounts is unlawful, but retained penalties for\u00a0cultivation of larger amounts (in excess of a half pound and change) including prison time.<\/p>\n Even more changes can be expected: The court said the 11-year prison term that comes with a charge of cultivating more than the limit is \u201cobviously not proportional.\u201d<\/p>\n Tom Angell, Chairman of Marijuana Majority, said the ruling represents global momentum for the decriminalization movement.<\/p>\n \u201cThis ruling, combined with other recent developments toward legalization in Canada and the beginning of legal sales in Uruguay this week, shows that the growing number of U.S. states enacting new marijuana laws are not outliers,\u201d he said. \u201cCannabis law reform is a global phenomenon that is rapidly gaining momentum. Different jurisdictions are enacting diverse changes for a variety of reasons specific to the concerns of people who live there, but the worldwide trend is unmistakable.\u201d<\/p>\n TELL US,\u00a0<\/strong>do you feel global momentum is building towards legalization or decriminalization?<\/p>\n The post Republic of Georgia Decriminalizes Cannabis Cultivation<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The former-Soviet Republic of Georgia has made massive strides on cannabis policy in recent months: The decriminalization movement has been active for years, but the legal process of decriminalizing possession and personal cultivation of cannabis only took about half a year. Four years ago, Georgian artist, Beka Tsikarashvili, was arrestedContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,80,734,65,417,735,81,736],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17853"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17853"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17854,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17853\/revisions\/17854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Republic of Georgia Decriminalizes Cannabis Cultivation<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"