Interior Ministry Proposes Toughening Anti-Drug-Trafficking Law

Russia's Ministry of the Interior has proposed amending the Criminal Code to provide for 15 to 20 years in prison for drug-trafficking. Today, courts convict largely drug addicts detained with small amounts of drugs for personal use, while major drug dealers are brought to justice very seldom. However, both drug addicts and drug traffickers are now sentenced to 2 to 5 years in prison. According to Interior Ministry officials, people detained with a small amount of drugs for the first time must be punished under administrative law, whereas drug-traffickers must be sentenced to 15 to 20 years in prison. Over the first ten months of this year, more than 209,000 drug-related crimes were committed in Russia. Of them, 46 percent were qualified as grave and very grave. Law enforcement bodies seized over 40 tons of drugs.