There are no "light" drugs for the law. What is the penalty for acquiring and possessing marijuana

The misconception that drugs are light and heavy is often formed after watching online content, including foreign films. In some countries, possession of small doses of narcotic drugs for personal use is either not punishable or entails only administrative liability. The correspondent of the agency “Minsk-Novosti” talked with the Deputy Chairman of the court of the Zavodsky district of Minsk Dmitry Lukashevich.

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- However, there is no division into light and hard drugs in the legislation of the Republic of Belarus, Lukashevich said. Narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors, which are subject to state control, are given in the relevant republican list, which is an annex to the resolution of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus of 11.02.2015 No. 19.

For example, in this document, marijuana, which is considered a light drug, is classified as a dangerous drug that is not used for medical purposes. Judicial practice shows that many defendants, believing in insignificant responsibility for possession of so-called light drugs, do not see anything illegal or harmful to their health in the acquisition and consumption of marijuana. By the way, many of them have not previously been in the field of view of law enforcement officers.

- However, liability for illegal production, processing, acquisition, storage, transportation or transfer of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances or their precursors or analogues without the purpose of sale comes under part 1 of Article 328 of the Criminal Code, regardless of the weight of the funds found in a citizen, the deputy chairman of the court said. The sanction for these actions provides for arrest, restriction or imprisonment for up to 5 years.

Thus, in one criminal case, a resident of the capital was accused of acquiring, storing and transporting marijuana weighing just over 2 g. In court, he said that he bought 10 grams of this dangerous drug online and occasionally used it to relax. The remaining 2 g were seized by police officers during the arrest of a citizen. During the consideration of the case, the Minsk citizen sincerely repented and asked not to deprive him of liberty, since he had a dependent child.

On the basis of Part 1 of Art. 328 of the Criminal Code, the man was sentenced to two years. At the same time, the court took into account the nature and degree of social danger of the committed act, data on the identity of the accused: we have not previously been convicted, had a permanent place of work. Therefore, the court decided in accordance with Part 1 of Art. 78 of the Criminal Code to consider the imposed punishment conditional and not to carry it out, if within two years of probationary period the citizen does not commit a new crime and will perform the duties assigned to him by the court, including the payment within 6 months in the income of the state of criminal compensation in the amount of 1,350 rubles.

- When considering criminal cases on the acquisition and possession of narcotic drugs, the accused admit that marijuana use causes psychological dependence (the inability to relax in another way or fall asleep without using the drug), violates memory, attention and motivation. All this ultimately leads to criminal liability, the interlocutor continued. It should also be noted that the legislation of the Republic of Belarus provides for liability for the use of drugs or the appearance in a state caused by their consumption in a public place.

Thus, according to Part 3 of Art. 19.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences, the appearance in a public place in a state caused by the consumption of narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances without the appointment of a specialist doctor or the consumption of their analogues, toxic or other intoxicating substances, insulting human dignity and public morality, as well as the refusal to undergo an inspection (inspection) in order to determine the state caused by the consumption of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, their analogues, toxic or other intoxicating substances, entails a fine of 5 to 10 basic values.

Consumption without the appointment of a specialist in a public place of these substances on the basis of part 5 of article 19.3 of the administrative code entails the imposition of a fine in the amount of 10 to 15 basic values.

The commission of the above actions within a year after the imposition of an administrative penalty for the same violations already entails criminal liability under the article. 328-2 of the Criminal Code, the sanction of which includes a fine, arrest or restriction of liberty for up to two years.

It should be remembered that an attempt to justify the use of narcotic drugs by convincing oneself of the existence of so-called light drugs is an illusion capable of destroying both the life of the citizen who wants to believe in it and the life of his relatives.