10.05.2012
“State’s View on Drug Addiction: Limits of Freedom” online conference that took place April 25th on “Maya” anti-drug web portal caused a wide resonance in the society. The topic of the conference, a bill proposed by FCDS of Russian Federation which offers to impose criminal liability for drug use ( or compulsory treatment as an alternative), gathered a lot of experts and famous people.
During the conference it was important for us not only to collect authoritative opinions of people from all over the world regarding the initiative proposes by FCDS, but also to develop a number of recommendations to the competent authorities, the immediate adoption of which will improve drug situation in Russia.
Developed recommendations include: more tough sentencing for drug dealers, cooperative control over drug trafficking with partners such as Customs, the SVR and FSB; improvement of the judicial system ; cresting an effective system of treatment of drug addicts in state institutions; primary prevention measures in schools, places of work and study and several others.
Government and social organizations reacted almost immediately be sending letters to “Maya” project after the conference results were announced and citizens' questions and answers of competent experts and popular personalities from different countries, along with recommendations mentioned earlier were published.
One example is a letter from the Office of Legal Regulation of Fighting crime of Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russian Federation , signed I.S Ivanov, head of the office. In this letter, Mr. Ivanov emphasized organizers’ and participants’ attention on the Ministry's official position on this matter: "Drug trafficking is a serious threat not only to health, but to national security in general, and this indicates that a systematic approach need to be used to combat the problem. This issue was discussed on the meeting of the State Council Presidium of the Russian Federation, April 18, 2011 "On measures to strengthen drug resistance among young people," which resulted , in Dmitry Medvedev’s orders to draft a relevant legal act mapping comprehensive changes in the legislation of the Russian Federation.
The bill includes an efficient and modern public policies and legislation and aims at improving Russia's legislature in the area of illicit drug trafficking through the application of enforcement measures against drug addicts. This should have a positive impact on the current drug situation, and it should reduce the number of people who use drugs and psychotropic substances.
Along with this, the bill proposes to establish norms in the legislation of the Russian Federation that will allow drug use to select between treatment with the subsequent passage of medical and social rehabilitation, on the one hand, and the punishment for committing a crime on the other.
It is also proposed to amend the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Violations, provide the exemption from administrative liability for people wishing to voluntarily undergo the treatment against narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances without doctor's prescription. "
The fact that we were able to establish a dialogue with government officials in Russia, suggests that one of the main objectives of the conference “State’s View on Drug Addiction: Limits of Freedom” has successfully reached - public authorities, from whom, directly or indirectly adoption of the bill depends have heard public opinion on this matter.
Discussion web portal of the “Maya" project, has set a precedent where people from around the globe can openly express their vision of the problem of drug addiction. It is likely to be taken into account, although the latter obviously remains on the officials. But we are convinced that, in the end, common sense and desire to really improve the drug situation in Russia will prevail.
World League "Mind Free of Drugs"
