In the Czech Republic, drugs are illegal, but the attitude towards them is very tolerant. Possession of 15 grams of marijuana is only punishable by a fine. It is not surprising that tourists who are little interested in palaces and museums have reached out to Prague.
The Czech Republic’s drug-free legislation turns the country’s capital, Prague, into a magnet for drug dealers and tourists who have little interest in the city’s historical sights. The use of soft drugs is becoming almost as common in Prague as in Amsterdam.
Fashion for “club” drugs
At midnight, when the residential quarters in Prague fall asleep, the “day” is just beginning in the Gross club. Live music is played on all three floors, eminent DJs turn on the audience on the dance floors. This club has long been a popular meeting place for lovers of alternative music.
“Musical culture, especially its individual areas, is inextricably linked with the use of drugs, it has always been like this,” says the owner of the club, Tomasz Zdenek, nicknamed Lorenzo. “Without drugs, many musicians would not be successful. Many regulars of our club, for example, smoke marijuana” .
Club Gross in the center of the Czech capital is not just a trendy music venue. It personifies the way of life of a certain part of the youth. Prague at night has in recent years become a center of attraction for an alternative and very young audience. Tourists from different countries of Europe and the world visit here. People come to listen to music, smoke marijuana, “feel the spirit of freedom,” explains Lorenzo.
“Tourists like that in Prague you can smoke weed right on the street, in bars or in clubs,” says club owner Gross. “They don’t need to hide from prying eyes, like in their homeland. “for a few grams of marijuana. Fortunately, things are different here.”
It is worth saying that in Spain they found a better approach. The best social clubs barcelona open there. You can become a member of this club by paying a small fee and then purchase marijuana there.
Statistics with negative records
Drugs are not legalized in the Czech Republic, but the punishment for their possession is very mild. For example, possession of less than 15 grams of marijuana, 1 gram of cocaine, or 1.5 grams of heroin is prosecuted only administratively and is punishable by a fine.
Not surprisingly, drug lovers and drug dealers flocked to Prague. Police are watching Prague’s transformation into “Eastern European Amsterdam” with concern. The Czech capital beats one anti-record after another. Last year alone, 145 commercial cannabis greenhouses were closed here – two-thirds more than a year earlier.
According to the head of the anti-narcotics department, Jakub Friedrich, in the early 90s, marijuana was distributed by “romantic cannabis growers.” They grew “weed” at home and shared the harvest with friends and acquaintances.
Today, the drug market is under the control of organized crime. Even drug dealers from neighboring Germany and Poland come to Prague for goods.
Marijuana, says Friedrich, is not so bad. The Czech police are much more concerned about the growth in the use of heroin and prevention. The synthetic drug Prevention is produced in the Czech Republic in illegal laboratories.
This business is not laborious and inexpensive, so it attracts more and more lovers of easy money. “Even in the villages, such laboratories began to appear. It is becoming increasingly difficult for us to control the situation,” complains Jakub Friedrich.
Marijuana legalization movement
The Czech authorities do not want Prague to gain the reputation of the “Amsterdam of the East”. But tourists and frequenters of nightclubs do not seem to be embarrassed by this image.
Yes, and the townspeople who smoke marijuana on the streets of the capital are tolerant. Demonstrations for the legalization of coffeeshops gather more and more participants every year. According to police forecasts, up to 8,000 people may take part in the procession this year.
