Neos chairman Matthias Strolz has spoken out in favour of selling cannabis over the counter in pharmacies and allowing people to grow their own plants for personal consumption. He said that half a million people who regularly use cannabis in Austria risk having a criminal record and that legalization would take cannabis out of the hands of dealers and criminal gangs. He added that the goal of legalizing cannabis in Austria would be primarily to reduce drug abuse. (See also: Big cannabis fields in Vienna?)