Cannabis sentence overturned for research purposes

A man in Cyprus who was jailed on a cannabis conviction is to be set free on a suspended sentence after his lawyer argued before the Supreme Court that a lower court completely discounted her client being into narcotics research and not illegal drug trade.

Last week the Supreme Court in Nicosia ruled that a sentence for a man, who was convicted and got two years in prison for cultivating 47 cannabis plants without permission from the health ministry, was excessive given the surrounding circumstances in his case.

Based on the decision, which was taken last week and made the news on Monday, the bench of the highest court in the land sided with the felon’s lawyer who argued the lower the court had not taken into account all the facts before handing down a prison sentence.

The defense attorney, who called for a suspended sentence instead, argued the punishment did not fit the crime, citing evidence that “the sole purpose of cultivating the cannabis plants was the production of industrial hemp for the betterment of the scientific community.”

But the prosecutors in the case dismissed the argument, arguing that such an approach could be used in other drug trafficking cases as an excuse that cannabis production is linked to commercial cannabis.

“Doing so, the application of a law of uncontested social importance and effectiveness would be brought into question,” the prosecutor said.

The bench, which noted the sentence was not being challenged as excessive, clarified unanimously that the lawyer was arguing that imposing a prison sentence without taking into account personal circumstances and details of the case was disproportionate.

A different case cited by the judges, in which obvious law violations were not linked to criminal intent for engage in illegal drug trade, suggested the lower court ought not to have jumped into conclusions in this case.

“As stated in this matter, the possession and cultivation of the 47 cannabis plants was for research purposes and not for the purpose of supply to third parties,” the bench found.

The Supreme Court judges ordered the prisoner be released from prison, taking into account some time already served, suggesting he serve the remainder of his sentence suspended for three years.

Does that mean we should close Burger Kings?

The enterprise in this case had suggested last year that people abusing marijuana were not different from people abusing cheeseburgers.

“Does that mean we should close Burger Kings?” the entity asked.

Legal hemp looks and smells exactly like marijuana, as both are cannabis, but hemp has lower concentrations of Tetrahydrocannabinol and higher concentrations of cannabidiol, which decreases or eliminates its psychoactive effect.

In 2019, the House in the Republic of Cyprus passed a law which regulates the production, use, and import of medicinal cannabis, while putting tough restrictions and investor quotas on production licenses.

But recent reports have suggested patients were still having a hard time accessing a range of products known for their medicinal and healing qualities.