50,000 Finns force Parliament to consider cannabis decriminalisation

A citizens' initiative that calls for decriminalising cannabis use has reached the Parliament of Finland.

The petition, promoted by activist Janne Karvinen, has received the support of the 50,000 signatories required by Finnish law for consideration.

The proposal aims to achieve the decriminalisation of possession, use and cultivation of small amounts of this drug.

Most of the support for the petition came in recent days. In fact, it had been initiated in May and at the beginning of October it had not even reached half of the required signatures. The deadline for submission is November 1.

"People usually leave things to the last minute", Karvinen told Yle (Finnish broadcasting company). The promoter believes there are "certainly more than 50,000 or even more than 100,000" people in Finland who support his petition.

According to Karvinen, cannabis must be decriminalised because its prohibition "has not worked" and punish its use "does more harm than good".