21 May 2004 04:45
Ombudsman hails Russian law to loosen drug penalties
MOSCOW. May 21 (Interfax) - Russia's human rights commissioner on Friday hailed a Russian law on loosening
penalties for "victims" of drug abuse by increasing the quantity of drugs a person can carry without breaking
the law.
"On May 12, changes to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation concerning illegal activities that have to do
with narcotics came into force. I believe these measures are correct. Seeking to punish victims rather than criminals
doesn't lead to the right results," Vladimir Lukin told a news conference at Interfax's central office in
Moscow.
A member of the presidential commission on human rights, Oleg Zykov, also expressed support for the legislation.
He said 65,000 people are currently in prison for breaking the law on drugs, but only 25,000 of them were convicted
of selling drugs. The rest were convicted of possession of drugs, he said.
"We estimate that about 80% of these people will now get out of jail," he said.
The new law, which has been deplored by Russian agencies involved in combating the drug trade, describes the maximum
amounts of drugs one has the right to carry as average one-time doses and sets them at 0.1 grams for heroin, 0.5 grams
for hashish, 0.15 grams for cocaine, 0.5 grams for opium and 0.1 grams for ketamine. [RU EUROPE EEU EMRG LAW CRIM] as aw
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[Interfax] |
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