On Monday, several dozen people gathered in Independence Square for a protest action to show solidarity with Martyn Simanyn, who was convicted of selling cannabis products.
Those gathered held placards with the inscriptions "Let's plant trees, not youth", "Leave people alone", "Crush flowers, not jaws", "Legalize CBD", "Freedom for Martyn".
The participants of the event were also treated to fiber hemp tea. Public activist Oleg Shurayevs also participated in the protest.
"We have come together to say that we do not agree with the decisions regarding the young man who Beautiful has opened a cannabis shop. He received 2 years and 2 months of actual imprisonment for fiber hemp, where the (THC - ELTA) limit was exceeded very little," Nerijus Vitkauskas, one of the organizers of the protest, told Elta.
"We do not agree with this, we have come to say that we are against it and the decision must be changed," he added.
However, the participant of the protest admitted that he has no hope that the current laws will be relaxed in the near future.
"We are working to implement decriminalization, but with the current Seimas majority, it is very difficult to collect as many signatures as needed. For the time being, this issue is stuck and we are trying to fight in all other ways so that at least such absurd situations as in this case do not happen again", noted N. Vitkauskas.
ELTA reminds that M. Simanyns in Kaunas, on MK Čiurlionos street, opened a shop two years ago, where legal CBD products were to be sold, i.e. hemp, which almost does not contain the psychoactive substance tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
However, when police officers visited and took some of the products for testing, it was found that some of the cannabis contained THC above the legal limit. The determined amount was between 0,26 and 0,53 percent, and in Lithuania it is allowed to sell cannabis with a THC concentration of no more than 0,2 percent.
In court, M. Simanyns defended himself that he did not know that he was selling drugs and provided laboratory certificates confirming that the amount of THC in cannabis does not exceed 0,2 percent.
However, according to the court's decision, M. Simanyn was imprisoned for 2 years and 2 months. Such a verdict caused public outrage. Residents' opinions appeared in the public space that the businessman was punished too harshly.
April 24 an appeals court session will take place, where it is proposed to put Martynas behind bars for 2 years and 2 months.
Gailė Jaruševičiūtė-Mockuvienė (ELTA)
