Georgian Orthodox Church Protests Against Marijuana Legalization

Georgian Orthodox clerics have led a protest march against the country's decriminalization and possible export of marijuana. After the ailing church leader, Patriarch Ilia II, condemned Georgia's marijuana policies in a Sunday sermon on September 16, hundreds of churchgoers marched from the mass to Tbilisi's city council, where priests and monks read prayers to express their opposition against marijuana. After Georgia's Constitutional Court decriminalized use of marijuana and abolished fines for the drug consumption, Finance Minister Ivane Machavariani declared that the country might export cannabis for medical use.