history(ge): restore peer 2015 article overwritten in error

In 2015, a Georgian man caught with Beka Tsikarishvili was accused of buying and possessing 69 grams of dried marijuana faced seven to fifteen years in prison — and talked the Constitutional Court into striking the sentence down. Beka TsikarishviliUnder article 260(2) of Georgia's case did not askCriminal Code that was a "large quantity", and the penalty was imprisonment for legalisationseven years or more. It asked whether locking someone up forOn 5 May 2014 he lodged a personal stash was a constitutionally tolerable punishmentcomplaint with the Constitutional Court. The answer redrew Georgian drug lawFirst Chamber gave judgment on 24 October 2015. ## Sixty-nine grams and fifteen years Tsikarishvili had been chargedThe question The complaint did not ask the court to legalise anything. It challenged the words that set the prison term, under Article 260article 17(2) of the Criminal CodeConstitution, which punished purchaseprohibits torture and possession of dried marijuana in large quantities with seven to fifteen years' imprisonment. He did not dispute that his 69 grams were illegalcruel, nor did he demand general decriminalisation — his claim said so expresslyinhuman or degrading punishment. His argumentWhile the case was narrower: for possession for personal usepending, with no purpose of sale, a multi-year prison term was grossly disproportionateParliament cut the penalty for the same conduct to five to eight years. The provision dated fromcourt held that it could still rule, because the Soviet inheritance — possession without intent to sell had been a crime sincenew wording repeated the [1974 union decree](/history/georgia-soviet-possession-crime-1974/) — hardened by post-independence sentencingsubstance of the old. ## The reasoning The court agreessaid that imprisonment is not in itself inhuman, withbut a dissent On 24 October 2015clearly disproportionate sentence can be. It then looked at whom the court upheld the claimact endangers. The wording imposing seven to fifteen years for personal-use possession of up to 70 grams Using marijuana "might have negative effect on human health", but the judgment held, violatedharm is lighter than that of the constitutional ban on inhumanso-called strong drugs. - Punishing a person for an act that can endanger only their own health is "aimless". - No inevitable link between marijuana and degrading punishmentother crimes had been proved. - The ruling was final and unappealablestate may set criminal liability where the quantity makes distribution objectively inevitable, though not unanimous —but 69 grams "cannot a dissenting opinion is recorded alongside itpriori be considered" an amount not meant for personal use. The score moved from 9 to 14 on Two sentences carry the strengthargument. "A human shall not be an instrument of that single holding: prison was offcriminal policy and a tool for fight against crime." And the tablestate may not punish someone "only for personal amountsdeterring others from committing the same act". ## The decade it opened Tsikarishvili became the first in a sequence. In December 2016 the court voidedruling | Point | Content | |---|---| | What was struck down | imprisonment as a punishment for marijuanabuying and possessing, for personal use itself;, dried marijuana in November 2017 it ended criminal penalties for consumption; and on 30 July 2018 it abolished even the administrative finesdisputed quantity, holding that consumption is protected by the right"up to free personality. Georgia became the first former communist state70 grams" | | Constitutional basis | article 17(2) | | Effect | in force from its announcement; final, with legal recreational use — until parliament reversed courseno appeal | Judge Merab Turava dissented in 2025part. He agreed that the penalty was disproportionate but thought the court should have struck down only severely disproportionate terms, bringing prison back for possession over five gramsnot imprisonment of any length. That reversal is ## What it left alone Buying and possessing marijuana stayed a separate entrycrime; only prison was removed as the decade between belongsanswer to a 69-gram stashit for amounts up to 70 grams. Use, growing and larger quantities were outside the man who refused to serve fifteen years for itcase. The court dealt with those in later judgments, on [Georgia profileuse in 2017](/countryhistory/gegeorgia-consumption-2017/) followsand [again in 2018](/history/georgia-constitutional-court-2018/). ## Why the lineindex moved Possession rises from 1 to 2: holding up to 70 grams for oneself is still an offence, but it can no longer lead to prison. Enforcement rises from 1 to 2 for the presentsame reason. Nothing else changes. The total moves from 9 to 14.

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Wikipedia — Drug policy of the Soviet Union Wikipedia — Cannabis in Georgia (country) 1 unchanged