Drug addicts and consumers need to be treated, and only those who distribute “dope” should be put behind bars.
With this slogan, two months ago the Russian Government approved new single doses of drugs, for which criminal liability is envisaged, by its Resolution No. 231. They became several times larger than before.
Now, a large amount is considered to be a quantity that exceeds the average single dose by 10 or more times, and an especially large amount is considered to be a quantity that exceeds the average single dose by 50 or more times.
The fuss was serious. The drug addicts, in their joy, “rolled a joint.” The State Drug Control Service accused the author of the adopted project, the Ministry of Justice, of almost aiding the drug mafia. The Ministry of Justice, however, believes that it did everything right.
The end of this fight has not yet been set. State Duma deputies asked the government to reconsider the “accepted” doses. But they have not yet received an answer...
What now - will the country become mired in "nonsense" or, on the contrary, will it reach the drug mafia?
Today we publish two polar points of view on this issue. Draw your own conclusions...
THEY STOOD IN A POSE BECAUSE OF THE DOSE
The draft appeal to Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov to review the approved doses was approved by the State Duma deputies with an absolute majority of votes - 391 (1 against, 2 abstained).
The deputies wrote to the government that the new resolution actually made an adjustment to another document - the List of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors subject to control in Russia. For some reason, a number of drugs simply “fell out” of the document. Opium doses are contrary to the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, to which Russia is a party. And most importantly, the sizes of average single doses were established in their pure form, although the task was different: to determine them for the so-called street doses (“released” - in the language of drug addicts). Regardless of what the drug is “diluted” with.
“As a result, the average single doses for some narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances turned out to be extremely high,” the parliamentary appeal states.
The decree came into force on May 12. And immediately, starting in May, the death curve of drug addicts in the country began to creep up.
— The increase in deaths is crazy! — says State Duma deputy Yevgeny ROIZMAN, one of the founders of the “City Without Drugs” foundation (Yekaterinburg). — Here are the data on the “ambulance” of Yekaterinburg: the mortality rate in May increased 8 times, in June — 9 times! The number of overdoses — 4.5 times. In Irkutsk — there is a simple collapse of deaths. Tyumen, Chelyabinsk — the situation is getting worse. And they timed this list to coincide with the school holidays...
— Do you think that the permitted “single dose” had an effect?
— I don’t think — I know. Every drug addict is a potential distributor. All the “runners” who take small wholesale from gypsies, Azerbaijanis, Tajiks and distribute are drug addicts to a man. For example, we had Anya, nicknamed Boar, a complete drug addict: she received 200 messages a day on her pager! She sold 150-200 grams a day. She didn’t carry much in her pocket. She would leave: one-two, scatter, take again...
Could a dealer show up at a school with even a tenth of a gram before? Now, you can come with even a gram of watered-down heroin (enough for 20 doses) or 4 boxes of marijuana and walk around the school: sell, treat... Drug addicts and drug dealers are rejoicing all over the country. The entire grassroots drug trade has been legalized. We have stimulated drug dealers all over the world: come on, guys, come here! We have an open border: heroin is transported in tons, in KamAZ trucks. And then the "kind" government legalizes drug use! In 2003, 70 thousand Russians died from them, 9 out of 10 - from heroin...
However, determining which dose is “correct” and which is not is still a matter for doctors, not for deputies, the government and lawyers.
— The new average single doses are ex-ceed-ed! — says Taras DUDKO, a leading specialist at the Russian Ministry of Health’s Research Institute of Narcology and Doctor of Medical Sciences. — For a single use, an ordinary drug addict needs 0.01, well, let’s say 0.02 g of heroin. That’s what the original document stated — 0.01 g.
(The initial list was prepared by specialists from the Standing Committee on Drug Control. It is headed by Academician Eduard Babayan, whose signature could be seen for many years on the inserts-instructions for all domestic medicines.)
— And suddenly someone pushes other norms, 10 times larger, into the Presidential Administration, — Dudko continues. — Those who lobbied for them are incompetent people. Or, perhaps, they did it for a fee. In this form, the document was sent to the government...
— But in the spring, when the debate about doses began in the press, many human rights activists claimed that the real dose of heroin is exactly around 0.1–0.2 g. That is, more than you say. And that if we adopt lower standards, it will be ordinary drug addicts, not dealers, who will end up in prison.
- They are not doctors, not specialists. When I saw the new list, I was shocked. How is it possible to adopt a resolution that gives the green light to drugs?!
“It is in the interests of a sick person and in the interests of society that they should feel uncomfortable using drugs,” say narcologists. In May, specialists from the Ministry of Health’s Research Institute of Narcology discussed the government’s resolution at round tables in the Duma and the State Drug Control Service and decided that the document must be revised. Taras Dudko called it “the second step towards the spread of drug addiction in Russia.” The first, he believes, was made in the early 1990s, when criminal liability for drug use was abolished.
Well, while drug addicts are dying 9 times faster than before, deputies are counting the days: their request to the government was sent on May 14, and according to the law, the deadline for working with complaints and appeals from citizens is exactly one month.
In response to MK's request to comment on the situation that has already brought so many agencies into conflict, Deputy Director of the Federal Drug Control Service Alexander MIKHAILOV stated that the drug control service had said everything it could on the matter. And he himself is now "watching with interest the reaction of the Ministry of Justice in connection with the deputies' request."
Indeed, the Federal Drug Control Service has expressed its negative attitude towards the new doses many times. Back in April, Alexander Mikhailov said that it would now be impossible to expose a dealer. So what if the dose is in your pocket? Well, not for sale - for yourself... And if you look at the official statistics of the Supreme Court, then almost everyone who received suspended sentences are dealers.
FORWARD TO THE VICTORY OF HUMANISM
The head of the Department of Legislation on State Security and Law Enforcement Activities of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, Sergei NIKULIN, told MK about how government decree No. 231 was prepared.
— I would like to immediately explain why the President amended Article 228 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which provides for punishment for the illegal acquisition, storage, production, and transportation of drugs without the intent to sell (the government decree was needed to decipher the amendments to the Criminal Code. — MK). This is a state criminal policy aimed at showing humanity towards drug addicts. And vice versa — against leniency towards drug dealers. For some reason, our opponents do not talk about this. The government considered the dose sizes previously used in judicial and investigative practice to be extremely insignificant. Based on international experience and the opinion of practicing domestic narcologists, it increased their sizes.
— But your opponents say that this has legalized drug use, made it possible to sell them with impunity and even produce them...
“Even the State Duma fell for this bait: in its address to the Prime Minister it is directly stated that the implementation of this resolution leads to the exclusion of liability, including for the illegal production and sale of drugs. But.
Firstly, the doses approved by the government are not connected with criminal liability for illegal production and sale of drugs or psychotropic substances. After all, the production or sale of drugs in themselves is punishable - in any quantity. It is this approach that corresponds to Russia's international obligations.
Secondly, an unbiased person cannot help but see the viciousness of the previous practice of bringing drug addicts and consumers to criminal liability, when any action involving even microscopic doses of drugs was punishable. It is no coincidence that before the drafting of the resolution, the Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission under the President of the Russian Federation Ella Pamfilova and the Human Rights Commissioner Viktor Lukin approached the government with a request to establish the real amounts of drugs and psychotropic substances prohibited for circulation. The government itself did not close its ears, but took into account the principled position of the state and legal department of the president, as well as the Supreme Court and the Prosecutor General's Office.
— You mentioned global experience...
— The resolution received a positive assessment from the representative of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (regional bureau for Russia and Belarus) Mr. Mirella. In his opinion, the new thresholds for drug quantities are generally consistent with the practice of other countries. The international non-governmental organization “Harm Reduction Network of Central and Eastern Europe”, which unites more than 200 organizations, including drug addiction treatment institutions, as well as a number of Russian regional organizations of narcologists, also positively assesses the resolution.
- But many also demand that everything be returned back...
“It is absolutely impossible to retreat into the past, when a microscopic dose of a drug could be punished with several years in prison. This will not stop the spread of the potion throughout Russia. There are not enough prisons to house millions of drug addicts. And the punitive sword should not be directed at these unfortunates, but at those who produce in the country and import large quantities of drugs from abroad, finding patrons, including in government agencies. Patients with drug addiction, mainly young people, should be treated and their social adaptation ensured. In a word, not a “desperate fight against drug addiction,” but a persistent and focused fight against the drug mafia, supported by a well-thought-out youth policy, can give the effect expected by society.
— What about drug addicts? Can they now really walk around with small amounts of drugs?
— For the storage of a small amount of drugs without the intent to sell, administrative liability is provided - up to 15 days of arrest or a fine. So, as before, it is forbidden to "walk around with drugs".
— How were doses determined before?
— Previously, there were no dosage standards at all. When determining the “large or especially large size” of drugs, investigators and judges were guided by the recommendations of the Standing Committee on Drug Control, which was not a government agency. Based on his recommendations, the large size, for example, of heroin ranged from 0 to 0.005 g, while, according to practicing narcologists, the size of a regular, “street” dose of heroin ranged from 0.1 g. The same gap in size was observed and for other drugs and psychotropics. Thus, the line between truly dangerous drug dealers and petty drug addicts has virtually blurred. As a result, courts, when considering criminal cases on drug charges, were forced in most cases to resort not to strict punishment, but to a suspended sentence or a fine.
JUDICIAL STATISTICS FOR 2003
— In total, about 100,200 people were convicted under Article 228 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (illegal acquisition, storage, production or transportation of drugs).
— Of these, 73,344 people (73%) were convicted of crimes “without the intent to sell” drugs (Part 1 of Article 228).
— Only 827 people (0.8%) were convicted for the illegal acquisition, storage, and production of drugs “for the purpose of sale” (Part 2 of Article 228 of the Criminal Code).
— 26% were convicted under parts 3 and 4 of Article 228 of the Criminal Code, where the qualifying features are not only a large or especially large amount of drugs, but also other circumstances (a group of persons, repeated offenses, an organized group).
— 60% of drug-related sentences are suspended. On average, only about 6% of drug offenders are sentenced to maximum prison terms.
Moscow's comsomolets
Rita MOHEL, Marina GRIDNEVA
Mr.Cannabis
07/16/2004
I am more inclined to the second point of view...
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