Cannabis at the border

Prohibited smuggling with legal cannabis

In future, three hemp plants per person are to be permitted for cultivation in the Czech Republic

(Bild: AP)

While "weed" cultivation is on the brink of extinction in Bavaria, there is liberalization in the Czech Republic, which leads to overproduction. And the police are already sounding the alarm: this legal cannabis will soon be brought across the border illegally - including to Upper Austria.

Cannabis is and remains the most popular illegal drug in Upper Austria: around seven percent of 15 to 64-year-olds regularly consume a joint. And since cultivation is prohibited here, it is illegally imported, i.e. smuggled.

The main cause for political excitement is the approval of hemp cultivation at Upper Austria's borders. Since April 1, it has been permitted to carry 25 grams of cannabis and grow three plants in Bavaria. However, these could soon end up in organic waste following the collapse of the German government. If the CDU/CSU parties win, they want to scrap the liberalization.

Penalty only from six perennials
On the northern border of Upper Austria in the Czech Republic, however, liberalization is being tinkered with in a similar way to Germany. Here, the possession of three cannabis plants is to become legal, but it will only be punishable from six plants. You are allowed to have 50 grams of cannabis in your household and 25 grams. You are allowed to keep 75 grams of the harvest from your own plants. With a potential annual harvest of 900 grams from three plants, 875 grams remain.

High profit margin

6200 euros profit per kilo of cannabis is possible for the smugglers. The purchase price in the Czech Republic is 3400 euros per kilo, whereas here the "weed" is sold on the street for 9600 euros.

Buying up overproduction
The Czech police are already alarmed and are expecting the overproduction to be bought up by gangs of smugglers. "These quantities of cannabis are exported to Austria, Slovakia or Poland," says the Czech drug investigators' report.

There was no glut
Although the feared flood of cannabis from Bavaria has failed to materialize, Upper Austrian People's Party manager Florian Hiegelsberger warns that "Germany's and the Czech Republic's misguided drug policy could lead to a conflagration". Furthermore, illegal imports from the Czech Republic are already high: almost 650 kilos of cannabis were seized last year