STA, 6 November 2019 - Tobacco and alcohol seem to be losing appeal among Slovenian youth, according to a survey presented at a round table debate in Otočec on Wednesday. However, the use of cannabis is on the rise along with social media and video games addictions.

The results of the 2018 international survey Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children show that smoking as a habit has become less common among teenagers, especially 13- and 15-year-olds, heard the debate hosted by the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ).

The share of youth who were drunk at least twice in their lives also dropped in all age groups, NIJZ head Nina Pirnat said in presenting the results of the survey.

Meanwhile, the use of cannabis seems to be on the rise, as one in five 15-year-olds and almost half of 17-year-olds have tried it.

Another problem is internet additions, with one in ten young people addicted to social media and online videogames.

Martina Vuk, a state secretary at the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, said a breakthrough should be made in these fields such as the one that led to a ban on smoking in closed public spaces.

She said this had been achieved only after a broad social debate on smoking, so she believes a general social consensus should be reached on what is acceptable and what is not.

"For as long as we are highlighting wine as food, we do not have a clear picture on what we want," Vuk stressed.

The head of the Public Health Directorate at the ministry, Mojca Gobec, agreed, adding that debates on this must not be confined to experts. "We must raise the debate to the national level," she said.

Vuk thinks progress in this field is being obstructed by strong lobbies on the one hand and weak politicians on the the other.

The participants agreed though that a lot can be done in terms of prevention in schools and with various programmes promoting a healthy lifestyle.

The debate was held as part of a national conference to mark the National Substance Abuse Prevention Month, which the NIJZ hosts in cooperation with the education, health and labour ministries.

All our stories on marijuana in Slovenia are here

July 18, 2019

In a retrial case of two cannabis activists the Higher Court in Maribor changed the previous District Court’s acquittal into a conviction this Tuesday. Sanjin Janšar, founder of the Cannabis Social Club Maribor, was sentenced to one year in prison, while his colleague Tomaž Zagoršak got a one-year suspended sentence with a three-year probation period.

Both men were found responsible for the existence of 44 Cannabis plants, about 6 kg of dried cannabis, 6g of resin and 700 ml of a THC ointment, confiscated in a January 2016 police raid of the Pekarna Cultural Centre in Maribor. According to more than twenty witness testimonials at the first level of the trial, the drugs were mostly sold or given to people in order to treat their various medical conditions.

The District Court then acquitted Sanjin Janšar and Zagoršek in 2017, arguing that with their illegal activities the two were in fact improving, not harming, people’s health, an argument supported by witness testimonials, but as Mladina later pointed out, this was not supported by any expert medical opinion, as the court expert was never called to testify on the possible reasons for of marijuana use and any improvements in patients’ health.

The prosecutor complained at the Higher Court, which eventually decided for a retrial. A new judgement at the Higher Court this Tuesday found the men guilty of illegal production and trafficking of a controlled substance. In sentencing, the court observed the prosecution’s reminder that cannabis remains an illegal substance in the Republic of Slovenia, as well as the defence citing the disproportionality of the small significance of the offence compared to the possible damage achieved by a guilty verdict. The court therefore decided to sentence Jašar to one-year in prison and Zagoršek to one year’s suspended sentence.

In 2017 marijuana was reclassified from class one, among the most harmful of the controlled substances, to a class two controlled substance which can be used in medicine.

STA, 29 May 2019 - The NGO DrogArt has launched a campaign to raise the level of nightlife culture in Slovenia and reduce the dangers of reckless partying.

The NGO is urging nightclubs, bars and event organisers to have trained staff available at all times and raise awareness among their guests about the dangers of drink and driving, including with brochures.

DrogArt would also like them to offer water, condoms and ear plugs to their customers free of charge.

The clubs and events organisers who will meet all these demands will be awarded a special NightArt quality certificate.

Related: Ljubljana Ranks High in European Consumption of Cocaine and MDMA, in Mid-Range for Amphetamines

According to the head of the NightArt project, Lucija Golčer, many clubs around Europe have such certificates, which cost EUR 200 a year.

In Slovenia no club has received it yet.

DrogArt has promoted the project in several clubs in Ljubljana and one in Maribor, with its activists distributing 550 condoms and 300 ear plugs. The campaign was very well received by the revellers, Golčer said.

DrogArt campaigns against alcohol and drug abuse, offering counselling, psychotherapy and psychosocial assistance to addicts.

Related: Drogart - The Party Drug Harm Reduction Association

Its 2017 on-line survey among 554 drug users and 102 attendants of drug abuse programmes in Slovenia has shown most drug users take drugs a few times a year (22%) and several times a month but less than once a week (22%). They mostly smoke marijuana, or take MDMA, cocaine and amphetamines.

Among the attendants of drug abuse programmes, most respondents said they take drugs every day, mostly methadone, tranquillisers, heroin and marijuana.

Related: What’s on in Ljubljana…

April 20^th is back again, a date that’s become synonymous with cannabis, and a time for celefWDXations and protests around the world, when millions will be burning or otherwise consuming the flowers of Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica, also known as marijuana, although, as “Gape Agape” the person interviewed for this feature – a representative of the Slovenski konopljin socialni klub (SKSK)– said right at the start of our discussion:

We'd like to emphasize that we do not like the term marijuana, because it was too often connected with prohibition and the propaganda that had led to it. We prefer the term cannabis [konoplja, in Slovene]. Similarly, we do not like the term medical, but rather medicinal — in the sense of traditional healing with herbs and such. In this context, all cannabis is medicinal.

With the correct nomenclature noted, we set out to find out more about the work of SKSK, and the campaign of legal cannabis in Slovenia.

What’s the overall goal of SKSK?

We want to that everybody can use cannabis, and not only cannabis for self-healing. For this, it is imperative that people be able to produce their own supplies, self-supply – meaning be allowed to grow their own medicine in sufficient quantities.

To achieve this it is vital that the growing of cannabis is not – by default – treated by the law as if intended for criminal activities, but understood as the free-growing of naturalised herb.

What is the next step in achieving this?

We’ve already succeeded in moving the plant from group 1 (the most dangerous substances) into group 2 of the Decree on the Classification of Illicit Drugs. Next, we need to get cannabis and THC to group 3, or remove them both – which would be the best thing – from the Decree.

What would the benefits of legalisation be for Slovenia?

It is already legalised and decriminalised to a certain extent, but growing cannabis is still potentially (by default) treated as an offence or crime. We thus demand naturalization – meaning having no legal limitations for growing and using the plant.

The benefits of liberating cannabis this way – all the way – would be numerous: lots of new jobs in growing, processing and researching the plant. The possibilities of use, and therefore options for selling it and making money, are unlimited, since the plant can be used in medicine, cosmetics, food, and can even substitute for oil – as a fuel, for making plastic – at least partially.

Is there a foreign model you want to follow?

There is no existing model (that we know of) that would be good enough for us – none of them enables free-growing that we strive for. Self-supply is allowed in certain models, but the quantities allowed are far too low to make enough medicine to cure cancer, multiple sclerosis or other serious conditions.

All existing models are steps in a better direction, but we want cannabis to be free of any legal restrictions. When there are no legal limitations there are also no limitations for discovering new applications for the herb.

How do you feel about CBD?

If we put it (too) simply: CBD helps, THC heals. The basic difference between the two is that CBD helps heal inflammation (which is the cause of numerous serious health conditions) while THC gets rid of deformed/mutated cells (i.e.. cancer cells which are unable to die and reproduce incessantly). But they are just two major cannabinoids, there are several others that play important roles in healing the body; our body needs the whole spectre of substances contained in cannabis – entourage effect.

Talking about the great majority of the “legal CBD”, the main problem is that pharmaceutical products are “cleaned” of the THC due to prohibition/regulation. Consequently, everything is diminished: cannabinoids, terpenes and other healing substances. Another problem is that CBD, being legal, is advertised as cannabis itself, but it isn’t. Too many substances are missing to equate it to the whole plant. The endocannabinoid system in human body cannot work optimally without cannabinoids, especially THC.

What do you think will happen with cannabis in Slovenia in the next few years?We will continue to work on achieving our goal – liberating cannabis of all the legal restrictions so anyone can use it in any time for any purpose. So, we will work on increasing awareness of all the benefits of the plant.

When cannabis finally becomes free for people to grow and use, we intend to continue doing what we do now, and more: educating people, growing and processing plants, finding out and creating new ways of use, selling the products…

Are there any regional differences in attitudes to cannabis in Slovenia?

Yes, there are. The centre of Slovenia is less restrictive towards cannabis, the south-west is quite nice too. But in the north-east the cannabis-related offences are treated 70% as criminal deeds, and only 30% as offences, while it is just the opposite in other regions. In the north-east growing forbidden cannabis has quite a long tradition, and is therefore more strictly punished by establishment. But the situation is getting better everywhere.

strong>Which politicians or arties are most supportive of your aims?

None, except for the ZSi movement. We tried to cooperate with lots of them, like Levica (The Left) and Pirati (The Pirates), but none of them made any substantial difference. They might claim they moved cannabis to group 2, but there were more than 50 complaints about the first change of the before mentioned Decree.

http://sksk.si/article.php/PredlogUredbeOdgovor

If people want to help, what can they do? (add any contact details, events, places to give money, etc)

They can get educated: www.sksk.si

They can send us an email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

And visit our YouTube channel here, or our Facebook page here

Or they can support our work by donating at our bank account:

IBAN SI56 6100 0000 3512 814

Everybody can help in their own way in promoting cannabis, by growing it, using it, giving it a good name…

What do you have planned for April 20?

We’re going to paint Easter egg, of course...

However, on April 19^th ŠOU (Student Organization of University of Ljubljana) is organizing the Million Marijuana March and we’ll be there. You can visit us at our stand where you can get free Ruletka rolling papers and other material.

We don’t really support 4:20 – that one should smoke cannabis only after 4:20pm. We want people to use it any time they want, even to start in the morning, not only after finishing their job.

“Zu3 se NaFu3” (= feed yourself in the morning) is one of our mottos.