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“Law Must Become Human” Assembly by the Parliament

September 10, 2013
 
Shorena Kakabadze, Kutaisi

Last week, a protest assembly was held in front of the Parliament of Georgia. Participants requested changes to narco-politics in Georgia and amendments to relevant articles in the Criminal Code of Georgia. 

“During the parliamentary elections, this topic was very urgent. We remember the pre-election promises about the revision of narco-politics and about making strict sanctions less grave. They started working in this direction but as we have learned, the Parliament does not have time for it,” one of the protesters said.

A short time ago, doctors also gathered to discuss the problem and presented a legislative initiative to the Parliament. A working group was set up uniting not only representatives of the nongovernmental organizations working on the issue, but also members of the executive and legislative bodies. 

“Due to the urgency of the problem and large public necessity, this meeting was held. By the way, we did a good job because we agreed on some issues. We discussed some articles of the Georgian Criminal Code, which declare drug-addicts to be criminals. Also, we discussed Article 45 of the Administrative Code of Georgia, which imposes fines on drug-addicts. We think that disproportionate high fines are fixed that is irrelevant to socio-material ability of population,” Zaza Karchkhadze said, a board member of the nongovernmental organization Rubicon. 

A member of the parliamentary majority Koba Davitashvili prepared a bill based on the doctors’ initiative. The Bureau of the Georgian Parliament decided to start procedures for the discussion of the draft normative act on July 18, 2013, and Davit Usupashvili, the chairman of the Parliament, signed this document.

According to this document, the Legal Committee and Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee of the Parliament of Georgia will discuss the bill soon.

The bill aims to introduce amendments to the Law of Georgia on Narcotic, Psychotropic Substances, Precursors and Narcological Aid, as well as to the Criminal Code and the Administrative Code of Georgia. 

The bill aims to remove Article 273 from the Criminal Code of Georgia. The article refers to illicit production, purchase/storage of small amount of narcotic substance or its analogy or precursors or their illicit use without doctor’s prescription. As for the administrative sanction, according to the bill, the Administrative Code still regulates punishments for the offense.

“Article 273 should be removed from the Criminal Code of Georgia and it is required in Davitashvili’s bill. This article declares drug-addicts to be criminals. I want to note that decriminalization or annulment of this article does not mean legalization of drug-abuse. It is necessary to allow people to freely visit doctors. So, the law will get human, oriented at human life, health and will no longer prosecute drug-addicts,” the head of nongovernmental organization New Way and psychologist Dali Usharidze told humanrights.ge.

There are controversial opinions about the legislative initiative. Representatives of the law enforcement bodies believe that the annulment of Article 273 in the Criminal Code will make the situation unmanageable and it will have negative impact on criminal situation in the country.

According to Davitashvili’s bill, liabilities for the illegal possession of narcotic and psychotropic substances are differentiated from the estimated drug-dealing. Additionally, maximum punishment – life imprisonment – is still in force for the production, storage, transportation, import and export of narcotic substances.

Representatives of NGO sector say the legislative changes are on time and necessary. 

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