A republican seminar on the topic "Ensuring prosecutorial supervision over the enforcement of legislation in the sphere of combating illicit drug trafficking" was held at the Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Belarus.
Representatives of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Belarus, the State Institution "Scientific and Practical Center for the Problems of Strengthening Legality and Law Enforcement of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Belarus", regional prosecutor's offices, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Investigative Committee, and the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus participated in the seminar.
The seminar addressed issues of the main directions of prosecutorial supervision over the enforcement of legislation in the sphere of combating illicit drug trafficking, the organization of supervision over the investigation of such crimes, problematic issues of bringing individuals to justice for the sale of narcotic substances, reviewed the drug situation in the republic, and summarized the results of work for 2015 in the specified area.
In addition, representatives of the Ministry of Health highlighted the work carried out by medical institutions in providing assistance to patients suffering from drug addiction, including issues of methadone substitution therapy.
Therelevance of the seminar's topic is associated with the growth of drug consumption in the republic, which is one of the global problems of the world community.
It was noted that the country's geographical location is used by organizers of international drug trafficking both as a market for drug sales and for their transit.
In this regard, attention is drawn to the fact that the main efforts of law enforcement agencies should be directed at suppressing the criminal activities of drug traffickers, identifying and blocking drug supply and transit channels, detecting and eliminating clandestine drug laboratories, and seizing particularly dangerous synthetic psychotropic substances from illegal circulation.
Furthermore, in order to minimize the consequences of drug addiction, timely response and development of adequate countermeasures to new trends in drug crime, work should also be directed towards improving the forms and methods of combating illicit drug trafficking.
Monitoring the situation, law enforcement agencies of the Republic of Belarus are taking the necessary measures for the preventive prohibition of the free circulation of psychoactive substances from the moment they appear on the drug market of neighboring countries. Over the past 5 years, more than 200 new substances have been added to the list of prohibited ones.
In the past year, 323 criminal cases were initiated, the activities of 99 online stores were suppressed, and access from the territory of the Republic of Belarus to 18 websites containing messages or materials aimed at illicit drug trafficking was restricted.
The measures taken, as well as the bringing to criminal responsibility of the overwhelming majority of members of criminal groups involved in the sale of psychotropic substances via the Internet, have allowed
significantly reduce the turnover of money in the specified sphere, which led to a sharp decrease in the number of online stores and, overall, led to a reduction in the number of online platforms for selling drugs operating in the country.Last year, 39 channels for drug supply to the republic from abroad, as well as their transit, were identified and suppressed, of which 23 were from Russia.
Criminals continue to attempt to create clandestine laboratories for the production of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances on the territory of Belarus. Last year, law enforcement officers suppressed the activities of 7 clandestine drug laboratories.
As part of the initiated criminal cases, almost 374 kg of narcotic drugs and more than 110 kg of psychotropic substances were seized from illegal circulation.
The seminar participants' attention was drawn to the fact that a significant restructuring of the domestic drug market and reorganization of drug-related criminal activities are currently taking place.
Thus, if in 2013-2014 synthetic psychotropic substances (so-called "spices") dominated in the country, accounting for up to 80% of the total mass, then currently their share in the country's drug market has decreased, forcing consumers to return to "traditional" opioids and marijuana, which have a less destructive effect on the body.
Their initial availability, combined with the active use of the Internet as the main distribution platform, provoked an increase in registered drug crimes and a rise in the number of newly identified drug addicts. Their initial focus on youth led to a significant increase in adolescent drug use and an almost fourfold increase in drug crimes committed by them. At the same time, there was a surge in cases of psychotropic substance overdoses, including fatal ones.
Summarizing the activities of all interested departments in combating this type of crime, it was noted that the practical measures taken have significantly slowed down the growth of drug crime, without absolutely reducing the tension in the work of law enforcement agencies.
Awareness of the problem of drug addiction at all
The levels of authority have enabled the adoption of important anti-drug initiatives at the state level. Currently, there is an intensification of work on drug addiction prevention by local executive bodies, and a number of non-governmental organizations and volunteer movements are actively operating, providing assistance in combating drug addiction.
Senior Assistant Prosecutor
of the region for supervision of the enforcement
of legislation on prevention
of crimes and other offenses Vitaly Suzansky.