Legal Distinction Between Hard and Soft Drugs

""Act. No. 40/2009, Coll., the Penal Code, became effective on 1 January 2010. It also introduced significant changes in the statutory provisions pertaining to primary drug crime. To a certain degree, the new legal regulation differentiates drugs according to their health and social risks as it makes a distinction between cannabis and other drugs in relation to the cultivation of cannabis for personal use and the possession of this substance for personal use. As far as other types of the unauthorised handling of drugs are concerned, the new Penal Code makes no further distinction between different drug categories. In addition to the aforementioned differentiation of drugs, the Penal Code also introduced the “privileged” (carrying less severe sanctions) constituent elements of the offence of the unauthorised cultivation of plants containing a narcotic or psychotropic substance (Section 285 of the law cited above)."