Transformation of the marijuana market in the Czech Republic - from free of charge outdoor cannabis to competitive market with indoor products
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Global cannabis markets have recently been changed by domestic cannabis cultivation. The Czech Republic (CR) has a rather high prevalence of cannabis use, and cannabis cultivation and possesion have not been targeted by law enforcement.
AIMS: The aim of the paper is to describe the development of domestic cannabis cultivation in CR. DESIGN: Mixed-methods study among marijuana users, retailers and growers recruited via respondent-driven sampling was conducted (66 semi-structured interviews, 69 minutes on average,; findings from a representative population survey).
FINDINGS: In CR, domestic outdoor marijuana growing was the only source of the drug when part of the Soviet block (until 1989), and it was provided for free among the users (until the early 1990s). Comercially grown indoor marijuana, imported from western countries, appeared on the open drug market in the late 1990s.
Since 2000, domestic indoor growing has spread. From around 2005, large scale indoor growing operations have been conducted by organised Vietnameese groups, mostly for export.
Both the individual and the large-scale indoor growing had a significant impact on the cannabis market in CR, reducing cannabis prices. However, many users still adhere to outdoor cannabis production.
CONCLUSIONS: CR has experienced an increase in self-supply and large-scale indoor cannabis growing, as other countries have. In CR, additionally, there has been a tradition of outdoor cannabis cultivation and outside-of-the market supply.
It is likely that a more lenient policy approach contributes to the relatively strong role of small-scale growers, in contrast to organised criminal groups, and that it contributes to lesser profits made on the illicit cannabis market.