From Monday 4 November 2013, police across the Czech Republic raided shops selling indoor-growing supplies, in what the cannabis-legalisation movement Legalizace called an unprecedented operation to liquidate grow shops.[1][2] Officers inspected at least 50 shops, confiscating fertiliser, lamps and other equipment and closing some of them down; the raid was expected to continue for possibly several more weeks.[2] Other accounts put the number at more than 50 cleared-out shops[1] or dozens of stores[3], with fertiliser, grow lights and cultivation guidebooks seized.[3]
Police spokeswoman Ivana Ježková said grow shops had often been overlooked in the fight against marijuana distribution, noting a marked rise in cannabis farming since 2007 linked to the spread of equipment stores.[2] The crackdown relied on a 2012 Supreme Court decision and the spreading-toxicomania law, applied to shops selling the full chain from seeds to literature even after many had restricted those ranges.[1] At least three people were charged, with dozens more suspected of distributing and promoting marijuana use.[2]
Legalizace said the confiscated legal goods were worth millions of crowns and organised a demonstration in Prague’s Old Town Square on 9 November attended by several hundred people.[1]
