After receiving a suspended sentence for possession of cannabis last year, Filip Dostovski walked out of the Skopje courthouse and lit a joint outside as cameras rolled.
It was an act of “revolt against their sentence and against their policy”, said the 41-year-old cancer survivor, who is pushing for the free use of marijuana in North Macedonia.
The Balkan state is eyeing a chance to become a cannabis pioneer in Europe, as the government considers legalising marijuana in what would be a first on the continent.
But many worry about a lack of follow-through, a problem that has dogged the government’s drug policy for the last five years.
Home to little over two million people, North Macedonia legalised the cultivation and sale of marijuana-derived medical products in 2016, hoping to get the edge in a fast-growing European market.
However, the law is unclear and has left the sector in limbo, with most businesses unable to sell on the international market.
At the same time, private individuals seeking to grow and consume marijuana risk criminal prosecution.
Medical prescriptions are only allowed for a narrow list of illnesses.
“The good thing is we have a law for cannabis production, but the bad thing is the law is awful,” said Filip Sekuloski, who leads a local NGO promoting more liberal cannabis policies.
Prime Minister Zoran Zaev has recently promised to loosen regulations on the medical use of cannabis and hold a public debate on decriminalisation and legalisation for recreational users.
He has referred to Amsterdam’s coffee shops as a model for the capital Skopje and other tourist towns.
While the Dutch city is considering barring foreigners from its cannabis cafes, citing their nuisance, North Macedonia, one of Europe’s poorest countries, is eager to welcome additional visitors.
“I see it as a source of economic potential,” Zaev said.
Health Minister Venko Filipce also supports the move.
“It is a field that has a huge future, a field that really offers development, that means serious investments,” he told AFP.
– Medical market –
Even if the government backs legalisation, it is likely to hit resistance from political opponents.
Falkron Bexheti, from an opposition party representing ethnic Albanians, has argued the country needs a “functional legal system” before it can make such a change.
“We are not ready as society for something like that,” he has said.
Other foes point out that the prime minister’s relatives are involved in the sector, which Zaev has previously dismissed as irrelevant.
In Dostovski’s view, the main challenge will not be public opinion but rather a game of “political points and political bargaining” between rival camps.
He also believes authorities fear upsetting gangs who run the black market.
The government says the priority is to fix the existing law to allow medical producers to export the plant’s dry flower — the product that makes up most of the European market.
Currently, companies can only sell extracts such as oils that are expensive and complicated to make.
Of some 60 local firms that have secured licences to grow cannabis, NYSK Holdings is one of the few with enough capital to produce extracts that meet European pharmaceutical standards.
But it is also waiting for the government to allow the export of the flower itself.
Late last year, the firm, a partner of Poland-based PharmaCann,…
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