Russian Drug Czar recommends revising laws that target drug users, suggests treatment instead of criminalisation

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Russian Drug Czar recommends revising laws that target drug users, suggests treatment instead of criminalisation

29 May 2015

Russian paper Kommersant and Ria News report on Russian Drug Control Agency’s (FSKN) Viktor Ivanov call to revise the legal responsibility for possession of drugs without the intent to sell, in the amount sufficient for limited dealing, large-scale dealing, and operating organized networks. Currently, these crimes are viewed as gross misdemeanors or felonies and Ivanov thinks that instead these crimes should be viewed from the point of the societal harm they are producing.

Ivanov reasoned that the majority of individuals serving sentences for these crimes are regular drug users who probably had a dose on them for personal use; this situation serves the interests of law enforcement staff for their reporting. The legal reform targeting these issues has to be implemented before 2020, Ivanov recommends. Interfax also reports that FSKN’s head wants criminal cases against drug users to be stopped at the level of preliminary investigation if the drug user has agreed to treatment. This will help reduce street crime, Ivanov thinks.

He also states that yearly 200 thousand drug users are charged with administrative and criminal charges and redirecting these individuals into treatment will help the overall situation with drug use in the country.

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