Photo by Bogdan

Pawel Bartozek, an MP for the Reform Party, has put forth a bill for parliament, which would legalise the consumption of cannabis in Iceland.

He points out that many US states have legalised cannabis consumption and that high profile individuals such as Barack Obama and Kofi Annan have come out in favour of its legalisation. Pawl claims that the fight against drug consumption has failed and that the world’s prisons are filled with people convicted of the sale, distribution and consumption of drugs.

“Decriminalisation would be progress,” Pawl writes on his website. “But if the production and sale [of drugs] remains illegal we miss the opportunity to control access, protect children and minors, and to tax consumption.”

Main points

He lists the following as the main points of the proposal:

Production, sale and consumption legal.

Age limit set at 20 years old.

Retail allowed in certain shops.

Sale allowed in certain cannabis bars that for exampled are not allowed to sell alcohol.

Substance sold in grey packaging with a simple text mentioning the name of the producer, the product and the type, as well as detailed information about ingredients and a warning about the substance’s harmfulness.

Complete ban on advertisements.

Cannabis tax, akin to alcohol tax. Price set at 2000 ISK per gram of THC. (If THC potency is 15% then the price is 300 ISK per gram).

Drug distraction

Pawl claims that he has been accused of putting the proposal forth to distract from the recent government scandal–an allegation he denies.

“Work on the proposal began last December,” he writes. “The plan was always to put the proposal for parliament this week, as soon as the first discussion about the budget had finished.”

Cosponsors of the proposal are Sigrún Inibjörg Gísladóttir from the Reform Party, along with Pirate Party MPs Gunnar Hrafn Jónsson and Jón Þór Ólafsson.