Poland's parliament on Thursday approved a bill which stiffens penalties against drug users and sellers.
Published:
24 September 2000 y., Sunday
Poland's parliament on Thursday approved a bill which stiffens penalties against drug users and sellers, hoping to combat the mounting narcotics-related crime. The bill, approved in a 367 to 18 vote with two abstentions, introduces jail terms of up to three years for the possession of drugs, including soft ones. Under the current law, carrying drugs in small quantities for personal use is legal.
The draft law, which still needs to clear the senate and be signed by the president, imposes prison terms of up to two years for owners of bars and other entertainment business, who fail to notify the police about drug transactions on their premises.
Retail sellers of drugs, who now often escape punishment, will face up to 10 years in jail. The bill's advocates say it will help crack down on a multi-billion-dollar narco-business in Poland, which has flourished since the fall of communism in 1989.
Official statistics show that the number of drug addicts reached 600,000 in 1999 among Poland's 38 million population. Some 5,000 of them were undergoing treatment. Last year, every fourth high school student at least once used drugs, compared with one in ten in 1995.
Šaltinis:
centraleurope.com
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
Most of those who plan to vote in parliamentary elections would vote for a non-affiliated candidate
more »
European leaders have vowed not to bow to his demands
more »
Belarus ranks 62nd in the newest Human Development report published by the United Nations
more »
BELARUSIAN AUTHORITIES IMPOSE TRAVEL BAN ON OPPOSITION ACTIVIST
more »
A stamp commemorating the 1994 visit of U.S. President Bill Clinton to Rīga is being issued by the Latvian Post Office
more »
Two doctors have boarded a ship carrying 37 African migrants after coastguards refused to let the ship dock at the Italian island of Sicily
more »
The editor of the Russian edition of the financial magazine Forbes has been shot dead near his office in Moscow
more »
Editor who unmasked super-rich of Russia is shot dead in Moscow
more »
Lawyers for French rock star Bernard Cantat, who was sentenced to eight years in prison for the beating death of his actress-girlfriend, have asked the Lithuanian Justice Ministry to let him serve the rest of his sentence in France
more »
Chechen field commander Shamil Basaev declared that militants will not attack Russian officials abroad
more »