An illegal marijuana plantation has been closed by the Polish Central Bureau of Investigation, part of the Polish police.
A 49-year-old man was arrested for growing dozens of plants in a converted room in his barn.
CBŚ officers found nearly 60 cannabis plants, while a separate section used as a place for drying the drugs revealed almost 2.5 kilograms of market-ready marijuana. The arrest was made in Legnica.
In a separate bust, CBŚ in Warsaw, closed another plantation, this time in Silesia. Police detained two men who had already been charged and arrested. The climate-controlled facility consisted of 300 cannabis plants, from which the growers were able to process close to seven kilograms of marijuana.
The arrests came at a times when the number of fines handed out for the possession of marihuana is dwindling.
According to the latest data from the General Prosecutor's Office, obtained by the Rzeczpospolita daily, in 2014, prosecutors decided to drop 4,273 cases, which is a figure about 1,100 greater than in 2013.
In 2012, dropped cases numbered just 2,100.
Most of these cases concern the possession of small amounts of cannabis. According to Piotr Jabłonski, Director of the National Office of Drug Prevention, these cases help reduce health and social damage.
“Most often, these cases are about young people, with a whole life ahead of them. And having a criminal record will not help them, find a job, not to mention getting a visa to travel to the US,” Jabłonski told the daily.
According to a new law which entered into force in December 2011, prosecutors can drop cases, if the amount of the drug was insignificant, for personal use, and the nature of the offense is negligible. (rg)
Source: PAP, cbsp.policja.pl