A quantity specified by law of a drug intended for one's own consumption could be penalised as only a minor offense in Slovakia in the future. The Justice Ministry, led by Lucia Žitňanská (Most-Híd), proposes this in a draft bill to be discussed by Cabinet on Wednesday. The possession of narcotics would only be considered a minor offence if the person is caught just once in twelve months. The maximum fine in infringement proceedings would be €165. In the case of marijuana, for example, the specified tolerated amount would be one gram, for pervitin and amphetamine it would be 0.2 grams, and for heroin 0.5 grams. Such amounts were determined based on recommendations by the Forensic Institute of the Police Corps, based on practical experience.
"The currently valid legislation in Slovakia concerning prosecution of drug offences, including penalties for the illegal possession of drugs, is one of the strictest with regard to sentences in the European Union. The current system leads to the criminalisation of drug users, mostly in the category of people under the age of 30, focusing in particular on consequences in the form of a criminal penalty and not sufficiently addressing the causes that lead to this crime. The current state does not reflect a sufficiently widely accepted requirement to penalise primarily illicit drug trafficking over penalising the drug users themselves, which results in an ineffective waste of human resources within the entire criminal justice system," the Justice Ministry writes in its accompanying report to the draft bill.
The Slovak National Party (SNS) a partner in the ruling coalition, has a serious problem with the draft bill, according to Tibor Bernaťák, the head of their caucus in Parliament. "Leaders of the ruling coalition parties will still discuss it, and then we will adopt our position, but we rather think that the justice department should focus more on excessively lengthy court proceedings and better law enforcement," Bernaťák said. His party wants to focus on prevention, as they believe this is the way to go. "Not the decriminalisation of drugs, moreover, of cocaine and heroin," he added.
