Andorra court slaps 18-month sentence for sharing joint with teen

A young woman has received an 18-month conditional prison sentence from the Tribunal de Corts for sharing a marijuana joint with a 17-year-old friend in Andorra's Parc Central in June 2023, alongside penalties for carrying an oversized knife and public cannabis consumption.

Undercover officers, in the area for training, noticed the pair sharing what looked like a cigarette. The women at first denied any drug use, but a partially smoked joint was found nearby after they stood up. The 18-year-old defendant acknowledged smoking marijuana during her trial but firmly denied offering it to her friend, who was on the verge of turning 18 and had only smoked regular tobacco. Officers also located a knife in her fanny pack that was one centimetre over the legal limit, resulting in charges of illegally supplying toxic drugs to a minor and unlawful weapon possession.

The court handed down 18 months' conditional imprisonment for the drug offense, two months' conditional nighttime house arrest for the knife violation, and for two public consumption counts involving cannabis, one month of conditional nighttime house arrest plus €300 fines each.

In a related case, the Tribunal de Corts sentenced a young man to 20 months in prison for minor hashish smuggling into Andorra for sale—six months firm and the rest conditional on proving stable employment—along with a two-year suspension period and a €3,000 fine. He also received a €1,000 fine for continued personal hashish use. The court ruled that a coprinces' pardon would apply once the sentence is final, allowing him to avoid actual prison time.

Separately, the Tribunal Superior has partially upheld an appeal from a youth known as the "catana boy," reducing his house arrest from four to three months over a scuffle with a prison officer. He attributed the incident to side effects from prescribed medications including Rubifen and Rivotril, which a SAAS psychiatrist deemed inappropriate and capable of impairing his faculties. His defense argued for partial exoneration due to an uncontrollable reaction when denied return to his cell, highlighting his reformed life with work, sports, and abstinence from drugs despite a history involving drugs, injuries, threats, and attempted murder. The new sentence is conditional on employment proof.