Bucharest Court Denies Request to Form CPLM Party Advocating Marijuana Legalization, Citing Violation of State’s Legal Order; Initiators Appeal Decision

At the end of May, a Bucharest court rejected the application filed by three founders to set up the Coalition for the Legalisation of Marijuana (CPLM) party. The judge justified his decision on the grounds that, at the moment, the use of this drug is prohibited by law and political parties are obliged by the Constitution to campaign for the rule of law.

In the reasoning of the decision, consulted by G4Media.ro reporter, the panel invoked the contrast between the legal obligations of political parties and the factual situation in the initiators’ application. Thus, on the one hand, according to the Law on political parties no. 14/2003, „Political parties are political associations of Romanian citizens with the right to vote, who freely participate in the formation and exercise of their political will, fulfilling a public mission guaranteed by the Constitution. (…) Only associations of a political nature, constituted in accordance with the law, and which militate for the respect of national sovereignty, independence and unity of the State, national integrity, the rule of law and the principles of constitutional democracy may function as political parties.”

On the other hand, according to Article 4 of the Statute of the Coalition for the Legalization of Marijuana Party, the aim of this party is „to ensure the exercise of the public will of citizens, based on democratic values and principles for the modernization of public policies on the production, processing, valuation and consumption of marijuana in Romania, to ensure state control in this area and new opportunities for economic development, while making the state more efficient and citizen-oriented.”

Balancing Law 14/2003, the CPLM Statute and other provisions in force, the Court noted that, according to the provisions of Article 2 of Law No 143 of 26 July 2000 republished on preventing and combating illicit drug trafficking and consumption, as amended by Law No. 45 of 1 March 2023, „Cultivating, producing, manufacturing, experimenting, extracting, preparing, transforming, offering, offering for sale, selling, distributing, delivering in any capacity, sending, transporting, procuring, buying, possessing or other operations relating to the circulation of risk drugs, without right, shall be punishable by imprisonment for a term of three to ten years and disqualification from certain rights.” These drugs include cannabis or marijuana.

Therefore, the judge ruled that „given that the domestic legal provisions currently in force prohibit the production, processing, use and consumption of marijuana in Romania, the establishment of a political party promoting precisely these objectives would be likely to violate the legal order of this State”.

The magistrate added that the case for the foundation of the CPLM „does not question whether it would be right or not to proceed with the legalization of marijuana in Romania, but whether a political party can be established at this time, which aims to modernize public policies on the production, processing, use and consumption of marijuana in Romania (…) or, this is not allowed by the current regulatory framework.” At the end of June, the three initiators lodged an appeal and the case will now go to the higher court.

In an article published in March, G4Media.ro revealed the three founders’ intention to create the party. Two of the petitioners are father and son: Serban Ion (58) and Tudor Oncescu, the latter still a high school student at the time of filing, but an adult after his 18th birthday in December 2022. Tudor’s mother is Ana Maria Dalu, director of the Unit for Research in Education, a structure under the Ministry of Education that provides scientific support for the latest approaches in the education system, „for authentic, motivating, active and creative learning.” Subsequent to the publication of the material, Șerban Ion Oncescu’s name was anonymized on the court portal on the list of parties who filed the case.