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Ha Noi — Agencies in charge of overseeing the fight against drugs are to be given more power, the National Assembly Standing Committee decided yesterday. The decision was made during discussions of the 2000 Anti-drug Law. Under revisions to the law, border police, maritime police, customs officials and other forces in the People’s Police will been given more power to fight drug addiction and drug-related crimes. National Assembly Vice Chairman, Nguyen Duc Kien said the move was a good idea but added "complicated cases should be handled by the police." Other proposed changes focus on community-based treatment and rehabilitation centres for drug addicts as well as measures to prevent recovering addicts from relapsing. One major flaw in the 2000 law was Article 11, which made Government units responsible for treating drug addicts on their pay role, Chairman of the National Assembly’s Committee on Culture, Education and Youth Dao Trong Thi said. "This stipulation has hindered the workability of the law," he said. Chairman of the Committee on National Defence and Security, Le Quang Binh disagreed. "The article aims to encourage leaders to be more responsible and to lessen the burden on functional agencies." Thi also asked the drafting committee to give clearer guidelines on the circumstances that merit treatment at home or at rehabilitation centres. Picking up on this point, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Nguyen Van Thuan and Chairman of the Nationality Council, Ksor Phuoc asked the drafting committee to scrap Article 199 in the Criminal Law which gives guidelines on the punishment for the illegal use of drugs. "Cases of illegal drug use are rarely brought to court," Thuan said. Committee members said the article contradicted item d, provision 1 of Article 28 in the new draft law that says "compulsory treatment will continue to be given to those who have returned home after attending rehabilitation centres." "We want the National Assembly Standing Committee to present this problem to the National Assembly so it can consider the abolition of Article 199 of the Criminal Law," Thuan said. — VNS
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03-04-2008, 14:54
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