A judge overturned a 601 euro fine to a man who was caught with 0.55 grams of cannabis inside his car.
The Gag law, known as the citizen security law, has been in force since 2015. It punishes the possession or consumption of drugs in the street and places or public transport with a fine between 601 to 30,0000 euros. However, the law does not specify if you can smoke inside a vehicle parked in a public area.
A judge from the city of Jaén canceled a fine of 601 euros imposed on a man caught with 0.55 grams of hashish in his car.
The judgment concluded that the apprehension of a certain quantity of drugs in a citizen’s car cannot be punished as an act of consumption and/or possession of narcotics in a public place.
The judge based his decision on article 36 of paragraph 16, which punishes as a serious offense “the illicit consumption or possession of toxic drugs, narcotics or psychotropic substances, even if they were not intended for trafficking, in places, roads, public establishments or public transport, as well as the abandonment of instruments or other effects intended for them in the aforementioned places.”
Begoña Valero, a lawyer for Legalion Abogados defended the case and explained: “the court considers that a citizen’s private vehicle cannot be understood or assimilated to a public place, especially when the norm is particularly detailed with the places where it can be punished.” Valero also pointed out that this is not the first time that a court cancels a fine for this reason.
In cases of possession or consumption of drugs in public places, the Gag Law establishes three degrees of severity. The first degree corresponds to a fine between 601 and 10,400 euros. The second corresponds to a fine between 10,401 and 20,200 euros. Finally, the third corresponds to a fine between 20,201 and 30,000 euros. The criteria taken into account to set the amount of the fine depend on the risk taken for the safety of the citizens, the amount of damage caused, and the economic capacity of the offender, among other reasons.
“The quantity of 0.55 grams of cannabis resin is not for trafficking. I consider that the case in question is not included in any of the cases provided for by the organic law for the protection of citizen security, firstly because it is a small amount of cannabis, and secondly because it is inside a vehicle,” explained the judge.
Unlike the Penal Code, explained Begoña Valero, the Citizen Security Law “sanctions situations that can undermine the peace of citizens. Other than the fact that it was in the vehicle, the quantity is not a risk for public safety.”
