The country of Georgia has legalized the consumption of marijuana, making it the first former member of the now-defunct Soviet Union to do so.
In a Monday ruling, the nation’s constitutional court ruled that punishing an individual for using cannabis restricts an individual’s freedom as the plant can only potentially cause harm to the user, Radio Free Europe reported. The court ruled that punishing a person for using marijuana will only be allowed if their actions put a third party at risk. Cultivation and selling will remain a punishable offense, however.
Speaking to reporters after the ruling, legalization campaigner Zurab Japaridze, who filed the suit with the top court, hailed the decision as making Georgia “a freer country."
"I would like to congratulate everybody on the decision made by the Constitutional Court,” Japaridze said, according to local English-language newspaper Georgia Today. “Administrative punishment for consumption of marijuana was revoked by the Constitutional Court, which means that consumption of marijuana in Georgia is now legal," he explained.
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