Drug users to get choice of jail or rehab

By Elias Hazou

A BILL giving drug users the option of rehabilitation and treatment instead of ending up behind bars is in the final stretch, with MPs of the House health committee hoping to get it passed by the end of the year.

The legislation regulates the process by which a treatment order is issued for either people accused of or convicted of using drugs.

As it stands, the bill provides for the establishment of a panel, comprising a psychiatrist, a clinical psychologist and a state attorney from the Attorney-general’s office.

The panel would evaluate a person and determine to which drug treatment centre he or she should be sent. The selected treatment centre would then be consulted on whether it can admit the person.

It’s understood that a person facing charges or who has been convicted of a relevant offence would be given the option of choosing between rehab and jail.

Should a person refuse treatment, they would go back to court.

“I hope they will choose the treatment centre,” DISY MP and member of the House health committee Stella Kyriakides told reporters.

The committee is soon to commence an article-by-article discussion of the bill.

“In this way, we will at last modernise the way we deal with users in this country, treating them as people needing assistance to kick their habit and not as criminals,” Kyriakides said, noting that the issue is being discussed since 1992.

However, it was apparent that parliamentarians have yet to cover all the bases.

Responding to a question, Kyriakides conceded they could not estimate how many people might end up seeking treatment under the mooted law.

“So, we do not know at the moment if the treatment centres we have are enough or whether they can cope.”

In Cyprus the use of drugs carries hefty prison sentences, even for soft narcotics like cannabis.

In practice, a warning is given to a minor first offender.

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.