Deputy of the Zhogorku Kenesh of Kyrgyzstan Dastan Bekeshev proposed changing the policy in the area of combating drug addiction, 24.kg reports .
“A person is such a creature: if he drank, he will continue to drink; if he used drugs, he will continue to use them,” he said at a session of the Kyrgyz parliament.
According to Bekeshev, one must “be able to distinguish between lesser and greater evils.”
"Synthetic drugs are a very big evil. Young people use synthetics – it's very sad. We are driving everyone into the illegal field: we ban, imprison, punish, fine. Or maybe one of the types of drugs should be allowed for adults? Soft drugs. There is nothing funny about it. We must understand that a person will look for something forbidden and will find it. All our young people are on synthetics. Natural drugs have become much more expensive. It turns out that it is cheap to get synthetics. I think that something needs to be allowed," he expressed his opinion.
He added that drug policy needs to be revised, as developed countries are doing.
Kazakhstan's reaction
In Kazakhstan, they are confident that the opportunity to legalize soft drugs as a way to combat synthetics has already been missed.
Thus, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Sanzhar Adilov reported that our country does not plan to legalize soft drugs. According to him, the department is studying international experience in combating drugs, but will not change its position on marijuana.
Adilov was asked whether the position of the Ministry of Internal Affairs had changed in connection with the mitigation of punishments for drug dealers and the initiative of the deputies of the neighboring country. He replied that the department is not currently considering this issue.
"We are not considering other issues on types of drugs, on reducing liability or changing their status in the tables. As for Kyrgyzstan, the issue of legalizing marijuana is not on the agenda," the deputy minister said, as quoted by Kursiv.
According to Adilov, the international experience that Kazakhstan is studying is aimed at improving methods of preventing and combating drug crimes, and not their legalization.
"We study the experience of international countries, first of all, in bringing to criminal responsibility, in establishing the causes and conditions that contribute to these crimes. Our main task is to involve more non-governmental organizations, local executive bodies and active public figures in the fight against this evil. We analyze the experience of other countries first of all to strengthen preventive measures," he explained.
Subscribe to our Telegram channel
Cover: Illustrative photo from rus.azattyk.org