Discussion on the bill of Marijuana Decriminalization has been started in the Parliament

Nino Kimadze

On June 30, an independent MP Goga Khachidze presented the bill about decriminalization of Marijuana at the meeting of the Human Rights Committee. 

This bill means to make amendments to the article 273 of Criminal Code of Georgia. As the chair of Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee Eka Beselia said on the meeting, according to the current legislation, consumption of Marijuana, firstly is fined by community service, in the case of repetition, it is subject to one-year imprisonment. According to the bill, consumption of Marijuana, for the first time, will be fined by 100 lari, in case of repetition –by 300 lari. 

According to Khachidze, a person should not be charged for a crime because of using Marijuana. MP thinks that the law should be more liberalized. According to Goga Khachidze, alleviated sanctions does not mean legalization: “the bill provides decriminalization of using small amounts of Marijuana, not storage and distribution.”

According to Khachidze, this bill is free from political influence: “When I prepared this initiative I was not a member of any party, I think that this is an important aspect for making a decision.”

Members of the ruling team responded to this statement and reminded him his political past.

According to the members of the majority, Zaza Papuashvili and Gedevan Popkhadze, amendment to the law is subject to certain difficulties, which might increase the number of Marijuana users. Former Chair of supervisory board of Narcology Scientific Research Institute Gela Lejava also attended the discussion of this bill in the Parliament. According to him, decriminalization of Marijuana is inadmissible. 

According to the chair of the committee, Eka Beselia, marijuana is not decriminalized in any European countries and taking this kind of decision is related to certain responsibilities. 

At the initial hearing of the bill initiated by Goga Khachidze, members of the committee developed an alternative way to change article 273. In particular, they decided to remove the point of imprisonment from this article. 

Discussion on the bill about decriminalization of Marijuana will be also continued in future in the legislative body.