In the near future, bills will be introduced in the State Duma establishing criminal penalties for repeated administrative prosecutions for the promotion of drugs on the Internet. The amendments were drawn up by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia on behalf of the President, reported Ekaterina Stenyakina, a member of the State Duma’s Committee on Labor, Social Policy and War Veterans, on her telegram channel.
As specified by the parliamentarian, it is proposed to amend the law “On narcotics and psychotropic substances”, as well as the Criminal Code (CP), the Code of Criminal Procedure (CPP) and the Code of Administrative Offenses (CAO ).
“The documents will lay down the propaganda concepts of illegal trafficking, drug use, cultivation of drug-containing plants, as well as criminal liability for repeated (within one year) administrative liability for such propaganda on network,” Stenyakina explained.
Stenyakina also published a copy of a letter to Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, in which she and Oleg Matveychev, deputy chairman of the Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications, ask the Ministry to indicate its position on the need to amend the Penal Code on the criminalization of the propaganda of narcotics and psychotropic substances or their analogues via the Internet.
In his appeal, the MP notes in particular that on February 3, 2023, TV presenter and blogger Victoria Bonya published a post on her Instagram (property of Meta*), in which she invites subscribers to participate in a retreat (spiritual practice) near Barcelona. During the retreat, participants will take ayahuasca tea, San Pedro cactus and Bufo Alvarius toad venom, which contain hallucinogens, Boni said.
At the same time, in a letter to Kolokoltsev, Stenyakina drew attention to the fact that the current version of article 230 of the Criminal Code (“Inclination to use narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances or their analogues”) does not assumes liability only for “inclination to consumption” and “excludes criminal liability for the promotion of narcotics, psychotropic substances and their analogues” through the Internet.
“The current law provides for the possibility of entrusting the administration with responsibility for the promotion of drugs on the Internet. However, the size of the penalties in this norm is such (50,000 rubles) that for many, including well-known offenders, they are not a serious deterrent. An advertising post in their social networks costs several hundred thousand rubles. This state of affairs certainly does not contribute to a drop in the level of anti-drug propaganda on the network,” said the parliamentarian.
The MP also said the Home Office had already informed the authors of the letter that it shared their position. In the near future, draft laws will be submitted to the State Duma, Stenyakina added.
For the parliamentarian of the TASS agency reported that, according to his information, the documents have already been sent for consideration to the government for subsequent submission to the State Duma by the Cabinet.
In an interview with the 360 ​​television channel, MP said that Boni’s message was the “last straw” and prompted her to tackle the problem of drug propaganda via the Internet. Interior Ministry Stenyakina explained that the drafted amendments suggest that criminal liability will occur after repeated violation. This will be able to stop violators, including bloggers, for whom a fine of 50,000 rubles is unlikely to be a significant amount, the parliamentarian believes.
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