Business Cann Report
EARLIER this month representatives from all 27 EU member states, alongside non-governmental experts, NGO’s and private sector representatives, came together in Prague for the annual National Drug Coordinators meeting.
Press-Release_National-Drug-Coordinators-Meeting-Prague_7-September-2022_en_1The meeting, which is organised and hosted by the country holding the Presidency of the Council of the EU, was this year centred around ‘cannabis policy’, specifically decriminalisation, destigmatisation, and harm reduction.
It comes at a crucial moment for both the Czech Republic (Czechia), which will soon consider draft legislation to fully legalise and regulate recreational cannabis, and the rest of the EU as cannabis liberalisation continues to sweep the continent.
Benjamin-Alexandre Jeanroy, CEO of cannabis consulting firm Augur Associates, told BusinessCann the event was ‘historical’, and marked a ‘victory for the concrete opening of the debate at the EU level in between sovereign member states.’
The National Drugs Coordinators Meeting
Czechia’s National Drug Coordinator and Jindřich Vobořil, the same man preparing a new draft law to allow the cultivation, sale and purchase of cannabis for recreational purposes, organised the event alongside the country’s Department of Drug Policy.
The conference featured presentations from experts from Malta, Portugal, the Netherlands and Germany, all countries tackling cannabis liberalisation in different way, offering their ‘national perspective’ on the best route forward.
Other private sector representatives and experts including Boris Banas, delegates from European Monitoring Centre for Drug and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), Augur Associates and others were also given the chance to present their views on how a European recreational cannabis industry could and should look.
Mr Jeanroy, who presented his company’s recent report exploring viable models for adult-use regulation, said: “Beyond being able to listen to lessons learned through testimonies from Thailand, California and our report, I believe it was for a number of countries, the possibility to envision concrete steps in their respective reform processes.
