Although the drug laws in Belgium are very strict, there is a difference when it comes to cannabis. Depending on the quantity and circumstances, possession and consumption are legal. “The problem with these CBD stores is that they operate in a legal minefield,” said Anton Buntinx, a lawyer with Belgian law firm Corbus Advocaten, which advises clients on the cultivation and distribution of cannabis for medical and scientific purposes. The second major revision of Belgian drug policy took place in 1994 with the Act of 14 July 1994, which aimed to distinguish the legal treatment of antiseptics and other toxic substances from narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances considered sensitive to dependence. [2] Cannabis remained in the general category of “controlled substances” and was not distinguished from other illicit drugs. In addition, Delta 8 THC is also legal, and you can access various products on the Internet. The law omits other derivatives such as Delta 9 and Delta 10, so it`s not entirely clear whether they`re allowed or not. To avoid repeating history, Antwerp Mayor Bart De Wever declared war on the illegal drug scene last year, tripling the size of the city`s drug force from 15 to 45 officials and promising “zero tolerance.” He took on a tremendous challenge. Few cities in the world have sunk as deep into the cocaine trade as Antwerp. In Belgium, the use of cannabis for medical purposes is legal in certain circumstances and its prevalence is increasing. [18] Since 2015, pharmacists and general practitioners in Belgium have been legally authorised to dispense cannabis-based “prepackaged” medicines such as Sativex® and cannaboidal powder (“CBD”). [18] The Royal Decree of 11 June 2015 still prohibits the supply of products or medicines containing one or more tetrahydrocannabinols (“THC”).
While cannabis cultivation remains a legal grey area under Belgian law, people who need medical cannabis are technically able to grow their own personal cultivation as long as they comply with the restrictions set out in the legislation of 1 July 2019. [1] A major problem with these sanctions was that many municipalities simply copied old local regulations (political regulations) when drafting their GAS codes. While many legal provisions were simple, such as vandalism, garbage, and noise complaints, other copied codes date back to the 19th century. and contained provisions with some bizarre examples of behaviors that could be fined in some communities – and have been, for example: psychedelics are increasingly accepted in Western medicine as recent studies show that they can help treat many conditions and diseases. Unfortunately, they are illegal almost everywhere in the world, including in Belgium. A country will probably have to admit a drug problem if even its wildlife uses cocaine. Yesterday morning, an online petition calling on the Belgian government to protect the country`s racing pigeons from doping with performance-enhancing cocaine was 200 fewer than its target of 45,000 signatures. “People who sell CBD products use the legislation [the EU`s common agricultural policy] a bit like a shield to say, `Ah, but they have less than 0.2% THC, so we can sell it legally.`” And they are right,” said Olivier Christiaens, spokesman for the Belgian Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products. But Steve Rolles of Transform, a think tank that advocates for reform of drug law, said the truth is more complex: “If there is a demand for a drug, then availability will follow.
I mean, it`s not like there`s a lot of cocaine in Southampton, for example. There must be something in the social fabric of the place that stimulates demand. Since Belgian law omits fungal spores of psilocybin, we assume they are legal here. However, keep in mind that the cultivation is illegal, so you can go to jail and get fines in case you get caught. In 2019, the leader of the French-language Socialist Party, Elio Du Rupo, announced his party`s plan to resubmit laws that would legalize cannabis nationwide. [17] The rationale for this decision focused on the idea that legalization would prevent youth from engaging in a criminal network dominated by “mafia” elements to acquire the substance. [17] This announcement was criticized by an opposition party, the Christian Democrats (cdH), the party`s leader, Catherine Fonck, stating that the cdH “will do everything in its power not to include the legalization of cannabis (except therapeutically) in the agreement of the federal government.” [17] For the moment, we cannot suspect anything about the legal future of psychedelics in Belgium. However, we believe that as research on psychedelics increases, more and more countries will consider their legalization or decriminalization.
“After the lack of clarity regarding the legal status of cannabis use (Gelders and Vander Laenen 2007), the municipal declaration decided to highlight the real intention of Belgian drug policy. Drug possession and trafficking are serious crimes. “According to spatial statistics (2011), 36.3% are convicted of drug-related offences. This is a higher percentage compared to the latest data from the Directorate-General`s statistics, which show that 31.3% of all prisoners are incarcerated for drug-related offences (regardless of their legal status). “Spatial statistics for Belgium suggest double counting, as the predicate offence rule in Belgium is not clearly defined (Aebi and Delgrande 2011, p. 66). Therefore, this double counting also appears in the most recent data of the Directorate-General and cannot explain this higher percentage. In addition, Space only includes convicted prisoners who do not expect a higher percentage but a lower percentage compared to the latest data from the Directorate-General, the latter covering all categories of legal status. However, compared to self-reported data, these figures again show a different result: 37.9% reported being in prison for a drug-related offence (Van Malderen et al., in press).
This point is investigated by asking prisoners if they are in prison for “drug possession”, “drug trafficking”, “for other reasons” or “for other reasons and drugs”.
