ABU DHABI //
Use of illegal drugs has been downgraded to a misdemeanour and options other
than jail have been provided for first-time offenders, under changes to the
anti-narcotics law.
The minimum
four-year jail sentence has been reduced to two, and the Attorney General has
the power to send an offender for treatment without the case going to court,
after advice from police and prosecutions.
Options for
first-time offenders include sending them to a rehabilitation centre, a maximum
fine of Dh10,000, or community service.
President
Sheikh Khalifa has issued the update to the original law from 1995. It now
states that drug use is no longer a felony.
Under the
reforms, courts have the option of adding a minimum fine of Dh10,000 to
sentences for serial offenders.
And if a
drug user is handed over by their family to a rehabilitation centre, police or
prosecutors, they face no penalty and will remain in treatment until the centre
decides they can be released.
Previously
this was only the case if the drug user turned themselves in.
The minimum
period spent in rehabilitation centres has been reduced from three to two
years.
Dr Asma
Fakhri, a drug control and crime prevention expert at the UN Office on Drugs
and Crime, praised the changes.
"The
UAE is one of the leading countries in trying to look at drug dependence from a
health perspective and changing laws is not an easy thing," Dr Fakhri
said. "So it is quite commendable to have the courts decide on individual
cases."
Hatem Aly,
also of the UNODC, was involved in a study with UAE authorities on drug use in
the country. He said the revised law allowed for alternative solutions in drug
policy, at least for first-time offenders.
"We see
it as a very positive step that the country is considering this
alternative," said Mr Aly. "It is a very smart initiative by the
country to develop this treatment system."
He said the
revisions would also save the UAE a lot of money, as the cost of imprisonment
is much higher than treatment.
"You
cannot imagine the cost of an inmate, because the UAE has very high standards
in prisons," Mr Aly said.
"So the
cost of accommodation, services and number of staff is very high and
incomparable with the cost of treatment."
Dr Ali Al
Marzooqi, public health and research director of the National Rehabilitation
Centre in Abu Dhabi, said that treatment centres across the country would have
growing demand after the regulations came into force.
"We
analyse the trends of substances and the number of service users each year, and
are able to predict the incremental need and plan our services accordingly, in
terms of capacity, staffing and budgeting," he said.
"The
new NRC building has nearly double the current capacity and it should be
capable of handling the extra influx."
The revised
law also cuts down the sentence of those who use any drugs that are not
mentioned in the law, from a minimum of one year in jail to a maximum of one
year.
The law
comes into force one month after it has been published in the official gazette,
although it has not yet been published.
No comments:
Post a Comment