No doubt it is because of the Divali festival to be celebrated next Monday that the next sitting of the National Assembly is scheduled for Thursday, October 27. The sitting will start at 3:30 p.m. There will be no questions to the Prime Minister or ministers on that day. However, the Leader of the Opposition will be able to ask a Private Notice Question. The DANGEROUS DRUGS (AMENDMENT) BILL will be presented on its first reading.
The main object of this Bill is to amend the Dangerous Drugs Act to implement the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry on Drug Trafficking (2018).
Accordingly, where a person is suspected of having committed a drug offence for his personal consumption, on the recommendation of the Director of Public Prosecutions, he will not be prosecuted for that offence but will instead be referred to the Drug Users Administrative Panel (DUAP). On being referred to the DUAP, the drug user will be directed to undergo rehabilitation such as education, counselling, treatment, aftercare, social reintegration or any other therapy at a public health institution or such other institutions as the Ministry may approve. The DUAP will have been responsible for monitoring the drug user’s progressing the period of rehabilitation and may do such other things as may be necessary to assist the drug user to overcome his addiction to drugs.
The Bill also makes provisions for a patient to be treated with medicinal cannabis where that patient suffers from specific therapeutic conditions and those therapeutic conditions have failed to respond to conventional treatment. A Medicinal Cannabis Therapeutic Committee will be set up in every regional hospital and will, on a case-to-case basis, determine whether a patient needs medicinal cannabis for his treatment. The use, dispensing and importation of medicinal cannabis will be supervised by the Ministry under very strict conditions.
The Forensic Science Laboratory will be empowered, as is the case in other several jurisdictions, to analyse a sample of dangerous drugs seized rather than analysing all the dangerous drugs seized. In addition, the Police will be given wider powers to enable it to detect drug offences and will, on the order of a District Magistrate, be able to destroy dangerous drugs seized rather than keeping same to be produced in Court.
Opportunity is also being taken to cure some shortcomings in the Dangerous Drugs Act and, consequently, the Courts Act is also being amended.
