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Newsbrief:
New
Polish
Drug
Bill
Ends
Experiment,
Outlaws
Possession
for
Personal
Use
11/24/00
A three-year experiment in
tolerating drug possession has ended in Poland. President Aleksander
Kwasniewski this week signed into law a tough new drug bill passed by the
Polish parliament in September.
The new law undoes provisions
of the 1997 Act On Countering Drug Addiction, which exempted drugs for
personal use from criminal penalties and called for drug treatment to occur
only voluntarily, except in the case of minors.
In regard to drug possession,
the 1997 law said, "The perpetrators of [drug offenses], who possess narcotic
drugs or psychotropic substances in diminutive quantities for their own
use, are not liable to any penalty."
In regard to coerced treatment,
the 1997 law said, "Submission to treatment, rehabilitation or re-adaptation
shall be voluntary, except when the regulations under this Law provide
otherwise.
Under the new law, possession
of narcotics or psychotropic substances, including marijuana, can be punished
by up to three years in prison.
The new law also allows judges
to force drug users into treatment.
"The police can now arrest
and stigmatize youngsters and addicts, which will be easier than cracking
down on professionals," Marek Kotanski told Reuters. Kotanski heads
Monar, Poland's largest private drug abuse service organization.
Supporters of the new legislation
argued that it would target drug dealers, whom they asserted took advantage
of the personal use exemption to evade prosecution.
They also pointed to official
statistics showing a steady increase in the number of habitual drug users
since the fall of communism in 1989.
-- END --
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Issue #161, 11/24/00
Business As Usual on the Border: More Cops, More Drugs Seized, No Impact on the Street | Follow That Story: Discredited Supersnitch Rises from the Ashes to Testify Again | Follow That Story: Asset Forfeiture Reform a Big Hit at Southern Legislative Conference | Andean Update: Peru's Fujimori and Coca Eradication Gone, Colombia's Peace Talks on Hold as Country Braces for Drug War | US Anti-Drug Aid Endangering Indigenous Communities and Amazon Biodiversity, Experts Charge | Newsbrief: New Polish Drug Bill Ends Experiment, Outlaws Possession for Personal Use | Newsbrief: Sweden Survives MTV Festival | Newsbrief: Clinton Allies Call for Commutation of Drug Kingpin Death Penalty, Moratorium on Federal Executions | Coalition for Jubilee Clemency | Reducing Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice System: Sentencing Project Releases Manual for Practitioners and Policymakers | The Reformer's Calendar | A Thanksgiving Note to Our Readers
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