Registration provision for drug users on chopping block in Myanmar

By Htoo Thant - Myanmar Times

The government will push to remove provisions of the country’s anti-narcotics law that require drug users to register with authorities and stipulates prison time for those who fail to do so, according to Colonel Zaw Win Tun of the Myanmar Police Force.

The requirement, laid out in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law of 1993, has been deemed in violation of Myanmar’s human rights commitments under the UN charter, and the decision to remove the provisions comes following a review of the legislation conducted jointly with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

“The existing law states drug users shall register and if not, they shall be imprisoned. Now we are trying to amend the law and remove the provision [requiring drug users to register],” the police colonel told The Myanmar Times.

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Thumbnail: Flickr CC Michael Greenhill