PARLIAMENT this week made an attempt at better regulating drug use and possession laws, but critics yesterday claimed half measures were the order of the day, saying the government was still neglecting the demand side of the issue.
At a session of the joint Health and Legal Affairs Committee held on Thursday to debate the amended bill on narcotics and psychotropic substances, deputy Attorney-general Petros Clerides conceded that the “battle to save the users had been lost,” arguing that law enforcement was now left no other choice but to focus on cracking down on dealers.
Among other things, the committee debated amendments to existing laws; one of these would allow a court to order the shutting down of an establishment or warehouse on the premises of which drug dealing is proven. Another proposal would allow dealers and users to stand trial in the same case.
But the most contentious issue was differentiating between dealers and mere users. The Attorney-general’s office proposed, for example, that people found with 30 grams or more of marijuana in their possession should be arrested as dealers. Clerides’ rationale was that, since dealers were rarely caught in the act by police, they could claim the drugs were for their personal use; but the new law would place the burden of proof on them in a court of law.
As one deputy sitting on the committee pointed out, in the year 2000 a total of 400 cases were tried in court, but only four persons were found guilty of trafficking.
Kyriacos Veresies, president of the KENTHEA drug detox centre, acknowledged the rationale behind Clerides’ proposal, but said such laws would convey the “wrong message.” In his view, criminals would take advantage of such laws by working around the problem, for example by trafficking smaller quantities of drugs at any one time and then getting off lightly if caught.
In addition with disagreeing with the overall approach, Veresies also told the Cyprus Mail that the amounts quoted by the Attorney-general’s office were too high. He explained that 30g of marijuana or 10g of heroin were actually substantial amounts, providing users with several dozen “hits” if carefully prepared.
Veresies went on to say that other countries, such as the Netherlands, had also started out with a 30g quota for mere drug use, but later had to reduce this to 5g.
KENTHEA’s chairman advocated a more demand-side oriented approach to the drug problem on the island. Citing official figures, he said that intravenous drug use among persons aged 17 and over was on the rise.
Cyprus still lacks a drug rehab centre complying with international standards. Users sentenced to a few months’ imprisonment receive treatment at the prison’s hospital ward, which is not qualified in drug rehabilitation, says Veresies.
The maximum penalty for drug use in Cyprus is six months imprisonment and there are thoughts on letting off persons aged under 25 with a clean criminal record. The treatment of dealers is relatively severe, compared to other countries: life imprisonment.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
