About 550,000 drug users are officially registered in Russia at present. Experts believe that the actual number may be as high as 2.5 million or nearly 2% of the population, reports the public and media relations office of Russia’s Federal Service for Drug Control.
In 1988, the United Nations made a major change to the strategy of fighting illicit spread of narcotics. The Convention on the Struggle Against Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances obliged the signatory governments to control not only trafficking in drugs, but also in substances used to make them.
In 1990, Russia joined the Convention, undertaking to fulfil all its requirements. As a practical measure, on January 8, 1998 it adopted the Federal Law On Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.
As Viktor Ivanov, director of the Federal Service for Drug Control, said, it is now ten years since the first Russian legislative act was passed to establish a legal foundation for the relevant state policy. In this period, practically no changes have been introduced into the federal law. At the same time, major changes have been made to legislation regulating the licensing of activities and foreign trade in such goods as precursors (materials often used in the production, manufacture and processing of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances).
On July 18, 2009, the Federal Law On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation Due to Improvement in Control over Trafficking in the Precursors of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances was signed, designed to make control over circulation of precursors more effective and differentiate between their uses.
The law introduced new terms: “circulation of precursors” and “precursor production.” The latter is defined as “actions aimed at obtaining ready-to-use-and/or ready-to-consume precursors from chemical compounds and/or plants.”
The law recommends differentiating between state control measures over the circulation of drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors by breaking them down into three tables and fixing specific control measures for each: I – special control measures, II – general control measures, III – exemption from some control measures.
According to the law, the production, processing, marketing, acquisition, use and storage of precursors grouped in Table 1 must be licensed. Only state unitary companies that possess the import/export license are allowed to import/export such precursors according to the procedure established by the Russian government.
The precursors entered in Tables II and III may be imported/exported by any legal entity provided it has an appropriate license.
To obtain a license to import/export precursors, a legal entity is required to obtain a certificate (if a precursor is a medication) and a permit.
Organizations are obliged to report on the circulation of precursors.
The federal law will come into effect one year after its official promulgation.
Changes in criminal legislation on illegal drug trafficking
The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which came into force on January 1, 1997, does not penalize narcotic use but does so only if narcotics are acquired and stored in large amounts without the purpose of selling (Article 228, part 1).
The highest penalty, between seven and fifteen years of imprisonment, was meted out for selling, manufacture and transportation of drugs in particularly large amounts (Article 228, part 4).
However, criteria for categorizing the amounts found on a detained person as small, large or particularly large were not legally defined.
As a result, practically any quantity of substance was de facto ruled as large or even particularly large.
In practice, to determine the “weight” threshold of criminal persecution, a combined table of expert conclusions was used, approved by the Permanent Drug Control Committee led by Eduard Babayan, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The Federal Law of December 8, 2003 introduced amendments to the Criminal Code that substantially altered legal responsibility for the illegal trafficking of drugs and psychotropic substances.
The new edition of the Criminal Code and corresponding articles in the Code of Administrative Violations provides for giving a legal foundation to determining the size of a drug haul discovered in illegal trafficking. A large amount was one that exceeded a one-time average dose tenfold or more, and a particularly large amount was one that exceeded it by 50 or more times. The amount of the one-time average dose was defined by the Russian government; the illicit acquisition, storage, manufacture, processing and transportation of drugs of fewer than 10 doses were decriminalized, and administrative sanctions were imposed for these actions (illegal acquisition, storage, transportation, manufacture, and processing without the purpose of selling of drugs, psychotropic substances or their analogues) entailing an administrative fine of between five and ten times the minimum wage rate or an administrative arrest for up to 15 days.
In June 2007, the administrative fine was set at between 500 and 1,000 rubles.
In addition, the Criminal Code introduced an article on the responsibility of manufacturers and sellers of drugs and psychotropic substances.
A term of imprisonment of four to eight years was stipulated for the illegal manufacture, selling or distribution of drugs, psychotropic substances or their analogues.
The same crimes committed by: a group of persons by preliminary collusion; on a large scale; a person over the age of 18, or one with respect to a minor, were punishable by an imprisonment of between five and twelve years with a fine of up to 500,000 rubles or the equivalent of wages or other incomes of the prisoner for a period of up to three years, or without such.
The above crimes committed by: an organized group; a person abusing his office; with respect to a person under the age of 14; and on a particularly large scale were punishable by an imprisonment of between eight and twenty years with a fine of up to one million rubles or the equivalent of wages or other incomes of the prisoner for a period of five years or without such.
Additionally, the Criminal Code introduced the following amendments:
- abolition of compulsory treatment for alcoholism or drug addiction in penitentiary institutions by court ruling;
- adoption, for actions not connected with the sale of between 10 and 50 doses, of alternative punishment: a fine, and corrective labor;
- differentiating between drug production for personal use and drug production for distribution;
- exclusion of repeatability grounds (multiple convictions for narcotics) as reason for increasing responsibility;
- virtual elimination of increased punishment for a repeat offence;
- addition of an amendment to Article 230 of the Criminal Code stating that promotion of instruments and equipment to prevent dangerous infections should not be viewed as promotion of narcotic use;
- inclusion of a note to Article 122 on decriminalization of HIV transmission effected through voluntary informed contact.
The Federal Law of January 5, 2006 introduced amendments to the Criminal Code, allowing the Russian government to define a large and a particularly large amount of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. The article granting the government the power to determine the size of average one-time doses has been voided
This reference is based on open source materials.
