MEPs passed an amendment to the law on the treatment of high-pressure drugs like drugs. The new regulations will apply from November 1, 2018.
The act provides for a change in the definition of "afterburner" -a new psychoactive substance and a substitute. The possession of a new psychoactive substance will be punishable as a drug.
Criminal responsibility
According to the act,substitute - until its composition is established - it will be subject to a financial penalty. Only if a substance is separated from it, which will be entered in the list of new psychoactive substances, will it be punished with criminal liability.
Introduced regulations will cover new psychoactive substances with similar control as narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. Administrative liability will be left for replacement measures. This means that the supervision over substitute funds will not change, and they will be subject to analogous procedures as before.
In addition, the list of new psychoactive substances will be an annex to the regulation and not to the act as it is now, so the update of the list will be much faster.
New responsibilities - reporting poisoning cases
Facilities that suspect the patient of the use of "legal highs" will have to notify the district sanitary inspector (currently there is no such obligation). At the same time, information about people who have been admitted to the hospital due to poisoning with "boosters" will have to be immediately reported to the Chief Sanitary Inspector (GIS).
Most MPs in favor of the law, although it is not perfect
Deputy Małgorzata Niemczyk (PO), whose amendments to the Act were rejected by MPs, emphasized that the Act contains solutions that will not lead to an effective fight against legal highs. According to her, there is a lack of penalisation of substitute means, and the law only speaks of criminalization of new psychoactive substances.
Tomasz Latos (Law and Justice) appealed for the adoption of the law before the holidays, because it is during this period that most young people reach for the so-called afterburners.
MZ: the act is a milestone in the fight against legal highs
This law is a milestone in the fight against legal highs, and those who argue otherwise do not understand the idea of this law. We stop playing cat and mouse with traders. We cease to tolerate distribution, possession of legal highs, which are much more dangerous than drugs, because we do not know the effects of their actions on such young organisms - emphasized Deputy Minister of Health Józef Szczurek-Żelazko.
- On the verge of holidays on behalf of the Minister of Health, I am asking for intensive awareness actions about the harmfulness of legal highs. Support us in this fight against legal highs (...) - the deputy minister said to the deputies.
Source:
http://www.politykazdrowotna.com/34672,dopalacze-beda-traktowane-jak-narkotyki-sejm-uchwalil-ustawe
