03.08.2012
Recently the Federal Drug Control Service of the Russian Federation published a new version of a draft law which doesn’t prescribe a punishment for drug use any more.
Reportedly, the appearance of the new edition was determined not only by wide public outrage caused by that legislative initiative but also by a number of technicalities. Besides, certain specialized agencies which had to carry out the bill in the case if it had been accepted disagreed with many paragraphs of the draft law. The Ministry of Healthcare and Federal Supervision Agency for Customer Protection and Human Welfare are among those agencies
. Last spring, when the bill was widely discussed in the society, our website www.mayaplanet.org held the international online conference “State view on the problem of drug addiction: the limits of freedom”. According to the results of the discussion, the experts settled the mind that introduction of penal responsibility for drug use has more disadvantages than advantages.
The criticism of experts and politicians regarding the bill compelled the Federal Drug Control Service to continue working on the document without give up the idea to make the punishment for using drugs more severe. However, in the outcome the bill underwent radical transformations. So, all points at issue stipulating penal responsibility for drug use and suggestions of arranging compulsory treatment of drug addicts were excluded.
It’s noteworthy that the Federal Drug Control Service suggested to sentence anyone who used drugs systematically (more frequently than once a year) to a prison term. At the same time, it was suggested to enable courts to compel drug addicts to undergo a course of compulsory treatment and rehabilitation. At present, drug use and storage of small amount of drugs lead to administrative liability only.
