STA, 18 July 2022 - A retrial in the case of the confectioner from Hoče near Maribor, who was found guilty in 2020 for lacing cookies with cannabis and selling them to unsuspecting customers, has resulted in the court finding Niko Štekar guilty and handing him a 15-month suspended prison sentence, according to the newspaper Večer.

The Maribor District Court found Štekar guilty of baking cannabis-laced cookies for Zlatko Babič, a retired health inspector, and later serving them to regular but unsuspecting customers, failing to inform them of the nature of the butter Babič provided as part of a cookie baking request.

Two of the customers ended up seeking medical assistance for THC poisoning after eating a substantial amount of the cookies.

The first-instance ruling was later upheld by a higher court, so it became final, but the defence had the ruling overturned by the Supreme Court earlier this year. The Supreme Court ruled that the case should be retried before a different judge.

In the first trial, Babič also faced charges over the manufacture of narcotic drugs, but the judge found him not guilty and agreed that Babič meant to use the cannabis-laced butter he delivered to Štekar for personal use in order to alleviate health issues.

According to Večer, Štekar still maintains he was not aware the butter contained cannabis, whereas Babič claims he made this clear upon making the cookie-baking request.

The defendant's life companion corroborated his claims by saying she saw the cookie dough in the fridge and did not suspect it to be laced with anything, but this failed to convince either the prosecutor or the judge Mateja Kamenšek Gornik, who upheld the first-instance verdict and found Štekar guilty.

STA, 23 May - The Supreme Court has annulled the 15-month suspended sentence handed out to a confectioner from Hoče for baking THC-laced cookies for a health inspector back in August 2017 and offering them to customers. The court said that it had not been proven in the trial that Nik Štekar had known that the cookies contained THC, the newspaper Večer reports.

Štekar was sentenced to the suspended prison sentence with a probation period of two years by the Maribor District Court in March 2020 as he served the cookies to four of his regular but unsuspecting customers.

He allegedly baked the cookies for Zlatko Babič, a retired health inspector and fellow resident of Hoče near Maribor, while he was not informed of the nature of the butter Babič provided as part of a cookie baking request.

Štekar reportedly baked roughly a kilo of cookies with the THC-laced butter, keeping a share of the product for himself and offering it at one point to four guests without a warning.

Two of the guests - one said he had had ten pieces - ended up in hospital to be diagnosed with THC poisoning.

The verdict was upheld by the Maribor Higher Court, with the newspaper Delo reporting at the time that the judges said that an explanation different than that he had known about the content of the cookies could not be accepted.

They noted that Štekar had told the guests, who later had to seek medical attention, that there was nothing hazardous in the cookies, which was an unusual thing to say when food is served in an establishment where food was supposed to be harmless.

Štekar's defence turned to the Supreme Court, which has recently ruled that it had not been proven in the trial that Štekar had known that the cookies contained THC, Večer reported on Monday.

Annulling the rulings of the district and higher courts, the Supreme Court said a retrial should be held before a different judge, so the file has been handed to Mateja Kamenšek Gornik, the newspaper added.

When the new judge asked the defendant last week if he would defend himself, he said that he had already said everything he had to say.

Večer notes that Babič explained in the first trial that he had asked the confectioner if he would bake him cookies with THC, and that Štekar had agreed to this. Babič confirmed this last week when he appeared in court as a witness.

The trial will continue on 21 June, the newspaper adds.

STA, 17 February 2022 - Slovenian company PharmaHemp has started building an EUR 11 million facility to produce and process hemp products in Komenda, north of Ljubljana, in what it says will bring together the broadest range of services in the field of hemp in Europe.

The 3,320-square metre hemp factory will be "the most modern and technologically-advanced infrastructure for the processing and production of raw materials and products from hemp", the company announced in a press release.

The investment into production, storage and office premises is to enable the company to later expand to the pharmaceutical business of production of active substances suitable to be built into various types of cannabis-based medications.

"The expansion will add to the company's existing portfolio of technological solutions in research, development, processing, production and laboratory testing of raw materials and industrial hemp products," reads the release from PharmaHemp.

The company says it is one of few to have successfully completed the validation process for two applications for novel food authorisation with the European Commission, for cannabidiol (CBD) and for hemp extract. The procedure validates the safety of products containing CBD and other cannabinoids.

According to information posted on its website, PharmaHemp started out as a family business in the former Yugoslavia in 1965 before introducing in 1995 a pioneering line of body care products enriched with cold pressed hemp oil.

Lean more about PharmaHemp

STA, 24 February 2021 - The government has established a task force for hemp management that will assist it in looking for solutions for regulating the growing and processing of hemp for medical purposes. It will also look to enable demographically endangered areas in Slovenia develop this activity into revenue-making business.

The task force has been formed by the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, which told the STA on Wednesday that it would consult with external stakeholders about the efforts to regulate growing and processing of hemp for medical purposes.

It will be also coming with concrete proposals, including for developing this activity into revenue-making business in "demographically endangered areas, with which new jobs will be created."

"This will help stop people moving from these areas and lead to them actually gradually moving there," the ministry added.

Regulation of growing and processing of hemp for medical and industrial purposes is part of the coalition agreement.

Prime Minister Janez Janša said last November that the Slovenian legislation in that part was "perhaps too rigid." He agreed that Slovenian growers are being put in a position that makes them non-competitive, and that the field needed to be regulated.

Janša said that changes to two relevant regulations were in the making that would introduce the possibility to grow hemp with seedlings and to grow hemp in greenhouses, and determine conditions for growing of seedlings intended for sale or further processing. They are expected to be adopted this spring.

All our stories on cannabis and Slovenia

STA, 18 February 2021 - The opposition Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) has tabled a bill that would legalise the growing of medical marijuana, a step it says would improve access for patients.

"We're not talking about marijuana legalisation, we want to create the legislative conditions to grow this plant for medical purposes," MP Andrej Rajh told the press on Thursday.

Under existing rules, it is permitted to use marijuana for medical purposes, but since growing is not allowed Slovenia relies on imports of mostly synthetic products.

Slovenia has a thriving underground market in medical marijuana, a substance particularly popular among chronic patients and people with cancer.

According to Rajh, the new legislation, which is modelled on Germany's 2017 law, would regulate the market and provide medical marijuana grown in a controlled way.

Borut Štrukelj of the Ljubljana Faculty of Pharmacy said there were currently two institutions in that grow medical marijuana for scientific purposes, specifically to determine which cultivars are best for different growing conditions.

"There is a lot of knowledge," he said, noting that pharmacies could make products from Slovenian-grown cannabis.

He said this would also reduce the size of the black market, create export opportunities and generate significant budget revenue.

All our stories about cannabis and Slovenia

STA, 16 November 2020 - Prime Minister Janez Janša announced in parliament on Monday support for the relaxing of rules on the growing of cannabis for medicinal and industrial purposes. He said the Agriculture Ministry was already drawing up changes, which are expected to be confirmed in the spring.

Asked by Janja Sluga of the junior coalition Modern Centre Party (SMC) whether the government planned a comprehensive regulatory framework for this field, Janša agreed that certain rules on growing medicinal and industrial cannabis were "probably too rigid and undermined the competitive ability of Slovenian producers".

While Sluga of the SMC, which proposed a full legalisation of cannabis in February 2018, spoke of "a multi-billion business in Europe" and of Slovenia's legislation in this field being "one of the most outdated in Europe", Janša said the ministry was drawing up new rules governing the growing of cannabis and cannabis seedlings.

"Both sets of regulations are expected to be adopted in the spring next year," he explained, saying all relevant acts were subject to coordination within the coalition.

The growing and use of cannabis have been subject to several attempts at legislative change in recent years and the use of standardised cannabis buds for medicinal purposes was legalised in March 2017. However the growing of medical cannabis is still prohibited.

Past proposals have also included the raising the THC ceiling for industrial hemp from 0.2% to 0.9%, which would allow domestic growers to use Slovenian seeds as opposed to imports.

STA, 6 October 2020 - Hemp growers and supporters have called on the Slovenian government to regulate hemp growing in the country so that farmers producing industrial hemp could be internationally competitive and the industry may grow. They have also called for the commitments for legalisation of medical marijuana to be met.

The call was issued at Tuesday's press conference by the interest association Cannagiz, the Konopko cooperative of hemp growers and the Ljubljana-based International Institute for Cannabinoids (INCANNA).

Presenting the letter sent to the government and parliament, Cannagiz president Rok Terkaj noted that the national authorities have not even gotten the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs from 1961 translated into Slovenian.

As a consequence, the legislation on hemp in Slovenia is one of the most obsolete in the EU, and the growing and processing of hemp is consequently uncompetitive.

Industrial hemp grower Bogdan Mak noted that the size of agricultural land covered with industrial hemp was dropping drastically. Five years ago, it was 500 hectares and now it is less than 200 hectares this year.

He called for regulations to be changed so that multiple sowing of hemp is possible in one year and that growing in greenhouses is allowed, which would increase the volume of produce in a small area and make Slovenian growers competitive in Europe.

Terkaj said that due to restrictions, Slovenian industrial hemp growers were forced to move their businesses to Austria and Italy.

The regulations limit the content of the psychoactive substance THC in industrial hemp to 0.2%, while Cannagiz proposes that the limit be increased to 1%, which would provide for the same level of safety while enabling better production.

When it comes to the use of medical marijuana, the Health Ministry has been called to draft legislation enabling treatment with medical marijuana as a medicine and growing and processing of hemp for medicinal purposes.

Tanja Bagar of INCANNA noted that patients in Slovenia could get synthetically produced cannabinoids in pharmacies, but many of them wanted hemp products due to synergies of various cannabinoids. They resort to black market, where they get unregulated products, she added.

Cannagiz has also called for legalisation of the production and sale of cannabidiol (CBD) extracted from hemp, which is not a psychoactive substance, as only the sale of pharmaceutically synthesised or isolated CBD is allowed in Slovenia at the moment.

Gorazd Reberšek of the association noted that producers of natural CBD were treated by Slovenian law as organisers of the production and trade in prohibited substances.

All our stories on marijuana and Slovenia

STA, 6 August 2020 - Police have seized 2,650 cannabis plants with an estimated street value of around EUR 2 million in the Lendava area in the north-east in what is the biggest cannabis bust in the Pomurje area in recent years. Three middle-aged men were arrested and face up to ten years in prison.

The plants were grown on an island on the Mura river on a plot measuring 100 X 300 metres. The land has multiple owners, with the biggest being the state, and is just next to the Croatian border.

According to Dejan Ravš, the head of the organised crime unit of the Murska Sobota police department, the bust was made following a tip-off to the Lendava police.

Police occasionally laid in ambush at the site but it was only this Monday morning that three men, aged 40, 45 and 48, appeared at the plantation.

A view from the air of the plantation

All three were arrested and police also confiscated their vehicle.

Since the water level of the Mura is high these days, the cannabis plans were transported from the island by a police helicopter.

The plants were 80-110 centimetres high and could be used to produce at least 600 kilogrammes of high quality marijuana with an estimated street value of around EUR 2 million.

They will be dried and used as evidence before being destroyed. The suspects face from one to ten years in prison.

According to Ravš, this is the biggest cannabis bust in the Pomurje area in recent years. This year, five illegal marijuana growing operations were discovered along with two indoor growing facilities.

STA, 5 March 2020 - In a court epilogue of a cannabis poisoning story that made headlines in 2017, a confectioner from Hoče near Maribor has been handed a 15-month suspended prison sentence for having served cannabis-laced cookies to four of his regular but unsuspecting customers.

Niko Štekar failed to convince the judge that Zlatko Babič, a retired health inspector and fellow Hoče resident, had not informed him of the nature of the butter Babič provided as part of a cookie baking request.

Štekar reportedly baked roughly a kilo of cookies with the THC-laced butter, keeping a share of the product for himself and offering it at one point to four guests without a warning.

Two of the guests - one said he had had ten pieces - ended up in hospital to be diagnosed with THC poisoning.

The couple testified they were convinced that Štekar, who described the cookies as excellent as he detailed the recipe in court, had known the cookies were laced, saying a strange grin escaped him as they started feeling strange in the store and confronted him.

This was also claimed by retired health inspector Babič, who said he had informed the confectioner of the type of butter he was dealing with beforehand.

Babič, who was reported to the police by Štehar, was also facing charges over the manufacture of narcotic drugs, but the judge agreed the purpose of four plants discovered in his garden had indeed been personal use for the alleviation of health issues.

This was not the only widely publicised case of this sort in Slovenia in recent years.

The other involved the organiser of a cannabis plant workshop, which was held in Vrbje near Celje in 2015 and ended with 15 of the 40 participants requiring medical assistance.

Many of the poisoned participants were pensioners and the assistance of a firefighting unit was necessary at the site to get them down from a hay drying frame they had climbed on.

The organiser, who admitted the deed an got away with a one-year suspended prison sentence, said he had not counted on the factor of people eating more of something if it was free.

All our stories on marijuana and Slovenia are here

STA, 26 February - The coalition government that is being formed by Janez Janša is planning to reintroduce military conscription, effectively secure the border, decentralise the country and increase local government funding, as well as introduce a general child benefit.

This follows from a 13-page draft coalition agreement obtained by the STA. The draft was initialled on Monday by Janša's Democrats (SDS), New Slovenia (NSi), Modern Centre Party (SMC) and Pensioners Party (DeSUS), but unofficial information indicates the parties have already signed the agreement.

Under the draft, the partners plan to gradually reintroduce conscription, which Slovenia abandoned in 2003, and a six-month military service. They also pledge to "tackle the situation" in the police force and consistently implement asylum procedures.

More on the conscription plans here

The parties have also committed to implement the Constitutional Court ruling mandating equal funding of private and public primary schools, and complete the system to fund science and research.

The per-capita funding of municipalities is to be raised to EUR 623.96 in 2020 and EUR 628.20 in 2021, which compares to EUR 589.11 and EUR 588.30, respectively, under the valid budget implementation act.

The coalition pledge to put in place a housing scheme for young families, build rental flats and establish a demographic and pension fund, headquartered in Maribor. Slovenia's second city will also host a government demographic fund. Pension rights are not to be changed.

The coalition also plan to reform social transfers policy and introduce free kindergarten for second or more children simultaneously enrolled in pre-school care and education. Family-friendly policies also include plans to introduce a universal child allowance.

The coalition pledge to secure extra financing from pubic and other funds in order to establish a financially sustainable and stable financing of the national health system and long-term care, and take effective measures to cut short waiting times in healthcare by engaging all staff resources.

The commitments include adopting legislation on long-term care and reforming the healthcare and health insurance act to change the management and functioning of the Health Insurance Institute and transform top-up health insurance.

Under the plans, employees will be able to take three days of sick leave without seeing a doctor, but only up to nine days a year. Measures are also planned to increase the vaccination rate and to set up an agency for quality of medical services.

The coalition have also committed to reduce taxes on performance bonuses and to reform the public sector wage system by pegging part of pay to performance.

Plans in the judiciary include making court rulings fully public and giving judges the option to pass dissenting opinions. Legislative changes are to affect the Judicial Council, state prosecution service, insolvency law and penal procedure.

The foreign policy agenda includes a pledge to support Western Balkan countries in their integration in the EU and NATO.

Other concrete projects include introducing e-motorway toll stickers and considering the option to transfer the Koper-Divača railway project and its manager 2TDK to the national railways operator.

The coalition would also like to reform land policies and the Farmland Fund, amend the co-operatives act and regulate production and use of cannabis in medicine and industry.

The coalition agreement sets out that the partners are taking the responsibility to manage the state according to voters' will, constitutional values, and rights and obligations as set forth in the agreement, based on the principles of equality and partnership.

The coalition pledges to focus on what connects and unites people in the country, and to advocate cooperation based on the willingness to work for the common good.

Under the draft, the SDS will be responsible for the departments of home and foreign affairs, finance, culture, which includes media, as well as the environment, diaspora and cohesion. The SMC was allocated the briefs of education, economy, public administration and justice, the NSi labour, infrastructure and defence, and DeSUS health, agriculture and the demographic fund.

This is the first in a series on the new government’s plans, to be posted in the next few days, with the whole set here