You may soon sniff cocaine without watching your back

  By Maxwell Ofori [email protected] Parliament is currently considering a bill, which, when passed, will no longer make it a crime in this country for addiction to narcotic drugs. The Deputy Interior Minister, James Agalga, who moved the motion for the second reading, said that under the new bill,  drug addiction and use would be […]

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By Maxwell Ofori
[email protected]

Parliament is currently considering a bill, which, when passed, will no longer make it a crime in this country for addiction to narcotic drugs.
The Deputy Interior Minister, James Agalga, who moved the motion for the second reading, said that under the new bill,  drug addiction and use would be treated as a health-related issue, when passed into law.
“This is a development that was never envisaged or catered for under the existing legislation, and so issues of drug use and addiction were treated as criminal offences, punishable by the law.  “But, under the existing bill, which is in tandem with international practices adopted by the United Nations, the treatment of drug use and addiction, as a health-related issue, will make it possible for us to put in place facilities for the rehabilitation and treatment of addicts.”
The bill – Narcotics Control Commission Bill, 2015 – seeking to address the weakness in PNDCL 236, which became law before the commencement of the Fourth Republican Constitution, is currently at the consideration stage.
The Bill, will also address the weakness in the PNDCL 236, which restricts the confiscation of illegal properties to drug-related ones, and does not adequately deal with the freezing of accounts of drug dealers, by giving powers to a Commission, which will be formed after the passage of the Bill, to be able to seize properties and freeze accounts acquired through illegal drug dealings.
Another purpose of the Bill is to establish the Narcotics Control Commission, and to provide for offences related to narcotic drugs.

Clause 1 of the Bill, establishes the Commission as a body corporate with the usual attributes, with an objective to ensure public safety by controlling the traffic in prohibited narcotic drugs and to take measures to prevent the illicit use of precursors.
However, clause 33 of the Bill, allows for the Chief Executive Officer or the Attorney General to apply to the court for a confiscation order without notice to that person.
Commenting on the above clause in an interview with The Chronicle after Parliamentary proceedings yesterday, Member of Parliament (MP) for Efutu Constituency and Lawyer, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, commended the government for introducing the bill, but was quick to add that there were some concerns.
“Narcotic Trade is not something that we must encourage in our sub region. It undermines our economy and democratic governance.

“Therefore, any country that seeks to put in laws and measures to clamp down on those involved in Narcotic Trade and Business, ought to be commended. The decision by Government to bring this Bill to give general powers with respect to the mandate of preventing the use of illicit drugs and the trading in same, I support it.”

He sounded a sounded a word of caution though. “There are concerns. Some provisions in the bill seek to give certain powers. For instance, there’s a provision that allows NARCOB to seize currency on the suspicion that the person is going to commit a crime.

“That’s an irresponsible provision. If you are given a specific mandate, go ahead and do that. What you are doing is to enact a law that will prevent the trade and use of illicit drug.
“Now why give power for somebody to seize currency or money belonging to another merely on suspicion that the person is about to use that money or currency to commit a crime when it is not related to narcotic offence.

“If you have evidence that the person has traded or engaged in narcotic business and the money that he’s having or the properties that he’s acquired is as a result of that narcotic business, the law provides what you must do.
According to the law advocate “The person must go through trial, the person must be convicted. Upon conviction, records of proceedings must be used to establish the connection between that trading activity which is unlawful and the properties acquired.

“Then you create that connection but you cannot merely on suspicion that somebody is about committing a crime, and that the person is having currency on him and you say that you suspect the person is about to use that money to commit a crime.
“That will be unreasonable, that will be effrontery to the rule of law that we all want to uphold and protect. We must give specific mandate and allow certain rules to guide that mandate. We have the Foreign Exchange Act which is operated and used by customs.

“We have the EOCO Act for EOCO, we have Act 749 for FIC, but you realize that every now and then state institutions defy their own laws and do things the way they instinctively think they have to,” he indicated.

 

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