MOSCOW, February 13 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Federal Drug Control Service supports imposing life sentences on drug dealers, one of the service's deputy heads said Monday.
"Such a measure of punishment must be used in extraordinary cases," Alexander Fyodorov told a news conference. "It would help society protect itself from the threat posed by narcotics through drug dealers."
Parliament member Yevgeny Roizman said parliament's lower house, the State Duma, was reviewing a draft bill on life sentences for certain categories of drug dealers, including those involved in selling drugs to adolescents and officials convicted of the abuse of office in connection with drug-related charges.
"The Supreme Court, the Prosecutor General's Office and the Duma's security committee have already supported the measure. But the government has not supported it yet," he said.
Fyodorov praised a recent governmental decree stipulating tougher regulations for "the effective fight against drug dealers".
Fyodorov said the government had allocated about 600 million rubles (more than $20 million) for the federal target program on the fight against drug trafficking in 2006.
