Summary
Over a year after the activation of the National Committee for Combating Addiction and a binding ruling by the Court of Cassation, some judges are still refusing to apply the drug law by allowing drug users to seek treatment in lieu of prosecution.
The drug law, otherwise known as Law 673 or the 1998 law, stipulates that anyone accused of drug possession or use – not trafficking or selling – has the option to pursue treatment at a government-approved facility in exchange for having charges dropped.
However, until 2013, the Committee for Combating Addiction, the body outlined in the law and charged with overseeing these cases, remained ink on paper, leaving individual judges to make their own arrangements – or not.
Sympathetic judges forged fruitful working relationships with nonprofit treatment centers to which they referred users, sometimes suspending sentences and in at least one case dismissing charges altogether.
Many judges continue to ignore the Committee's existence altogether.
In some cases, the law is being abused or misinterpreted by law enforcement before a judge even lays eyes on a case.
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