On 17 February 2018, a group of young Belarusians holding a banner reading ‘Legalize Belarus’ gathered on Independence Avenue in the heart of Minsk. The group was campaigning for the legalisation of marijuana in Belarus, a proposition that, at least for now, seems unlikely to attract support from the public or government officials.
How the war on drugs was declared in Belarus – and what came out of it. In Belarus, from three to four thousand people, mostly youth under 30, are sentenced for "illicit drug trafficking" yearly. Political Critique tried to find out whether the authoritarian government is effective in its crusade against prohibited substances.
The civilised world is moving fast to legalize, or at least decriminalize, cannabinoids. Meanwhile in Belarus, owning just 1 gram of Marijuana can get you 2 years in prison — which practically means up to 8 years. This is how the Belarusian drug policy is failing the people of Belarus.