Earlier this week, the Czech Government announced that the driving force behind its pioneering cannabis legalisation project, Jindřich Vobořil, will be stepping down in August.
The Czech Republic’s National Coordinator for Drug Policy and the architect of what is now Europe’s most ambitious cannabis liberalisation initiative, has agreed to resign from his position at the end of August, but is set to remain an advisor to the government moving forward.
Coming just weeks after speaking at Cannabis Europa 2024 on the progress made in the Czech Republic during his tenure, where he suggested his aim was to ‘regulate addictive products according to their risks’, his departure represents a blow to activists throughout the industry.
However, members of Rational Regulation (RARE), a campaign group formed by a number of the country’s leading cannabis voices that work closely with Mr Vobořil, informed Business of Cannabis this will have little impact on the project, and that his position as a scientific advisor will actually give him more freedom and power to influence policy.
What happened?
Mr Vobořil worked as the country’s drug coordinator from 2010-2018, and was reinstated to the position in February 2022.
Since then, he and his team have put together two pioneering proposals for legislative drugs reform in the Czech Republic. One aims to regulate so called ‘psychomodulating substances’, creating a new category that sits in between the current binary of either banned narcotics or food. This is expected to include substances such as HHC.
The second would regulate adult-use cannabis, and now represents the only project within the European Union that could push for a full commercial market, as seen in Canada and certain states in the US.
According to local news sources, Mr Vobořil, already a frequent target of politicians who disagree with his liberal stance on drug policy, tendered his resignation following a backlash over comments he made about drug use within the Czech parliament.
Asked recently by a journalist about traces of cocaine that were discovered in the parliament’s toilets around a year ago, Mr Vobořil said that this was ‘not surprising’, suggesting that it was something that has been the reality for many years.
Crucially, he added that the really surprising thing was that politicians representing Czech citizens were inadvertently supporting the Russian mafia by using cocaine purchased on the illicit market, a statement that created a media storm.
However, according to RARE, this internal pressure is just one of a myriad of reasons Mr Vobořil chose to depart, adding that his resignation had been planned for months.
“It was very sensitive thing to hear for some of the MPs and they used it against him. But to say that his decision to leave was based on this particular incident or situation is plainly wrong,” RARE’s Chairman and publisher magazine Legalizace, Robert Veverka, said.
New freedoms
RARE have reportedly been putting plans in place for Mr Vobořil departure since last year, as they wanted to ensure ‘this didn’t interrupt the planned regulation in any way’.
After the two draft bills were finalised and submitted around two months ago, Mr Vobořil’s obligations in regards to cannabis reform ‘were finished’.
“His power to influence things from the position of drug coordinator became very limited from the moment the bills were submitted to the government office,” Dr Tomas Ryska, Managing Director of Astrasana Czech s.r.o., and member of RARE explained.
“Since that moment, it has become more political and more about the various ideologies and negotiations between various political parties and interests. Its a political problem, not an expert problem.”
Mr Ryska argues that in his new role as an expert advisor, Mr Vobořil will have ‘less political responsibility’, enabling him to spend more time developing the landmark drug policy.
“What it means is that he can influence things, say things and act in a way that wouldn’t be possible from the position of drug coordinator. He was, and he still is, the symbol of change in the Czech Republic.”
He is also supported by the Prime Minister, Petr Fiala, who told local media: “Because I respect Jindřich Vobořil and am aware of his professional knowledge, I am pleased that he will continue to act as an expert advisor and that we will be able to use his knowledge in the field of addictions in the future.”
It is understood that no official drug coordinator will be appointed in his place, and his work on the project will continue largely unchanged.
In a resignation statement, Mr Vobořil suggested that he has also faced increasing pressure from powerful lobbyists and the political parties they support, largely from industries that are set to suffer if his plans are brought into law, including tobacco, alcohol and big pharma.
“In the last year, I have dealt with many complex topics and faced pressure from some large industries,” Mr Vobořil said in a statement.
“Of course, I have been used to pressure, unfair games and underhanded behavior or personal threats, which in the last year have not been few, from individuals and from various legal and illegal industries in previous years, and I am done with fear.”
This was mirrored by RARE’s Lukáš Hurt, the manager of CzechHemp and editor-in-chief of Cannabis magazine, who said: “There is the tobacco industry, there is the alcohol industry, there is the pharma industry, and there is also the gambling industry, which all fall under addiction issues. With big money behind these industries, they have made it a very hard situation for him personally.”
