Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted (edited)

No More Hard or Soft Drugs

Consumers to be prosecuted. Table of quantities for personal use not yet available.

ROME – All drugs are the same. Whether the substance is cocaine, hashish, LSD, ecstasy or marijuana, there will no longer be any distinction between hard and soft drugs. Vice Premier Gianfranco Fini took pains to point out again that “no one will go to prison for a joint”, although the new law on drugs that was approved yesterday in the Senate will make consumers as well as dealers liable to prosecution. The fines are administrative and not penal, but since all drugs are treated equally, cannabis smokers may end up having their passports withdrawn.But there is more. The concept of a “moderate quantity” has been reintroduced, albeit under another name, to establish an objective limit between personal use and dealing. Although the – unified – table of borderline doses is not yet available, the new law on drugs is about to go through the Chamber of Deputies in a race against time after approval in the Senate.

AMENDMENT – In the end, the law on drugs passed in the Senate as an amendment. It had languished in committee for two years before Minister Carlo Giovanardi decided to draft an extract of twenty-two articles out of the total one hundred and six. But there would still not have been enough time, so it was decided to piggyback the law, in the form of an amendment, to a decree for the transfer to the Olympics of scratchcard revenue and for the recruitment of more than one thousand police officers to combat terrorism. The provision will now go to the Chamber of Deputies, where it will probably be treated in the same way it was in the Senate, as a vote of confidence.Mr Fini explained the vote in this way. “It was essential to implement the principle in the bill of repression for dealers”. There have been many protests,including the comment by Rose in the Fist leader, Daniele Capezzone. “There’s a lot of moralising about drugs in Parliament but if a police dog went into the Chamber of Deputies, first its nose would go crazy and then it would roll over”. Democrats of the Left (DS) Luigi Manconi ironicallycalls it a real masterpiece.Daisy Alliance parliamentarian Rosy Bindi talks about “institutional arrogance” and MEP Emma Bonino complains that “there is less and less freedom in Italy”. For the majority, Luca Volontè, leader of the Christian Democrat (UDC) group in the Chamber of Deputies, calls it “one of the keystone government initiatives of the past decade”.

THE TABLE – The table is perhaps the most controversial aspect of the new law. Unlike the regulations contained in legislation approved in 1990, and then abrogated by a referendum in 1993, the new law will not have tables to define what was previously known as a “moderate quantity”. This time there will be only one table for all drugs.However, there is no table at all at the moment.According to the piggyback amendment, the Ministry of Health will decide the borderline quantity that separates dealing from personal use in a decree that will therefore have the force of criminal law. According to DS Senator Massimo Brutti, this procedure “is in contrast with the second paragraph of article twenty-five of the constitution”, but junior minister for the Interior, National Alliance’s (AN) Alfredo Mantovano, defends the new measure robustly. He says that“the same procedure was followed in 1990, when the Minister of Health laid down the tables in a decree.Actually, more will be done this time because the Minister of Health will draft the decree in concert with the Minister of Justice and the National Department of Anti-drug Policies”.

DRUG REHABILITATION CENTRES – The section of the amendment that deals with residential rehabilitation centres and dependency services has stirred up protests. The new law puts public and private services on the same footing, giving both the power to certify drug dependency.This is a far from marginal issue since here too there are penal repercussions. Drug-dependant offenders are given special treatment by the law thanks to what is called a “minor” sentence of imprisonment for a minimum of one to a maximum of six years, in contrast with the tariff for the basic offence, which ranges from six to twenty years. Finally, the new law also raises the threshold for serving alternative sentences from four to six years when the offender is drug-dependant.

Alessandra Arachi

English translation by Giles Watson

www.watson.it http://www.corriere.it/english/articoli/20...o/27/drug.shtml

Edited by porcy62

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...