Europe: Belgian Trekt Uw Plant (Grow Your Plant) Activists Win Collective Garden Case

The Belgian Court of Appeal in Antwerp Thursday acquitted a group of activists who had publicly planted marijuana seeds of "incitement to drug use." Board members of the group, calling itself "Trekt Uw Plant" (Grow Your Plant), had each planted one seed in a container in a May 2008 action in a bid to win the right to create a collective marijuana garden.

Instead they were arrested. They were convicted of "incitement to drug use" by the Antwerp Correctional Court in 2009, but the appeals court decision has now reversed that ruling.

In so doing, the appeals court accepted the group's argument that it was attempting to create legal space for the collective cultivation of marijuana for personal use. The group also argued before the court that accepting collective cultivation could reduce illegal cultivation and resort to the black market or Dutch coffee shops just across the border.

Under Belgian ministerial guidelines in effect since January 2005, authorities will not prosecute people possessing three grams of marijuana or less or one plant. Trekt Uw Plant used the action as a test case to push for collective gardens, as are allowed in Spain.

Thursday's ruling marks the second time Trekt Uw Plant has been acquitted of a crime for its action. "This second acquittal encourages us to continue in the fight for a coherent and effective cannabis policy in Belgium," the group said.