13 Aug GREEK GOVERNMENT PROPOSES DRUG DECRIMINALIZATION
The Greek government proposes to decriminalized possession of drugs within the bill submitted to parliament by the Minister of Justice Miltadis Papioanu, the British site Talking Drugs. By law, possession of drugs will be decriminalized until drug use does not affect others.
The bill is a response to the trend of increasing number of cases of drug overdose with more than 300 deaths annually in recent years, the high number of drug users in prisons. About 40% of Greek prisoners sentenced for drug use or drug-related offenses.
Under the proposed law, possessing drugs for personal use would be considered only for “bad behavior” rather than as a serious crime. The proposal for decriminalization would apply to people who grow marijuana for personal use.
The bill also guarantees the right to medical treatment, including that person that are currently in prison.
The approach “treatment, not jail sentence”, users will be provided for detoxification treatment program, and then be placed on probation and monitored by a monitoring program of drug users. However, it is not clear what will happen to users who have relapsed while in the program.
The bill does not legalize the sale of drugs, which would remain a crime. Like other schemes for decriminalization, this measure will make life easier for drug users, but will not contribute much to reduce the harmful effects of drugs being sold on the black market.