Ten inmates walk free following relaxation of marijuana law

A handful of inmates jailed for using marijuana are now walking free following the Georgian Constitutional Court’s historic ruling to relax the country’s drug laws.

Ten prisoners have been released from Georgian jails since October 25 - the date when the Constitutional Court announced imprisonment was an "inappropriately strict” punishment for smoking cannabis.

The Corrections Ministry said a number of people sentenced to a prison term for marijuana-related charges had asked for their cases to be reviewed following the constitutional amendment. Consequently, ten inmates were set free. The agency expected more inmates could be released if they also asked for a repeated court discussion in the future.

Last month the Constitutional Court ruled Georgia’s marijuana law needed to be relaxed after discussing and upholding a claim by Georgian citizen Beka Tsikarishvili.

Tsikarishvili, who was detained for purchase and possession of 65 grams of marijuana in June 2013, challenged the Georgian marijuana law, which claimed a person should be jailed for seven to 14 years if he/she was found with a large amount of marijuana. The same law determined 50 to 500 grams of marijuana as "a large amount”.

The Constitutional Court said this punishment was too harsh for smoking cannabis, and noted users and dealers should not be punished the same way.

Although Tsikarishvili possessed "a large amount” of marijuana, the Court did not see any evidence he intended to sell it.

The Court called on the country’s lawmakers to create specific criteria that would help judges figure out whether a person was a marijuana dealer or if they possessed cannabis only for personal use. If found the drug was for personal use, a prison sentence would be an inappropriate punishment for these offenders, the Constitutional Court ruled.

The charge against Tsikarishvili sparked a large-scale protest against the country's strict marijuana laws last year. A group of local artists, actors, singers and others launched a campaign called ‘Beka is not a criminal’. The group published video clips, blogs and posters online demanding marijuana become legal.

Over the past two years two major rallies were held to protest the country’s strict drug laws.

The rally organisers wanted marijuana decriminalised; although the Constitutional Court decision did not decriminalise cannabis - this was not even the subject of discussion - legalisation supporters were satisfied with the amendment and said the verdict was a "huge step forward”.