Greek Kannabishop wins lengthy legal battle

The plenary session of the Council of State, the country’s highest administrative court, on Thursday upheld an appeal lodged by the owner of the nationwide chain Kannabishop, which sells clothes, bags and other items made of hemp, a derivative of the cannabis plant, and granted him 14,673 euros in compensation for moral damage after a police crackdown on his business.

The owner of the chain had sought damages following a raid on his first store in Ioannina, northwestern Greece, which opened in 1998, on the orders of a prosecutor who had deemed the store to be condoning the use of cannabis.

The Council of State’s ruling followed a decision by the General Chemical State Laboratory which found that the products sold in Kannabishop stores contained either no cannabis or negligible traces of the drug.