Constitutional Court of Georgia rules imprisonment impermissible for certain drugs
By Nika Gamtsemlidze
Monday, August 5
The criminalization of drug use that does not result in addiction and/or aggressive behavior was found unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court of Georgia, on the basis of the Public Defender’s lawsuit.
The Constitutional Court of Georgia ruled that in order to prevent the risks, imprisonment as punishment is permissible for drugs, the use of which leads to addiction and aggressive behavior. The Court noted that even a single use of drugs, as well as the manufacture, purchase or storage of them for personal use, represents a threat to public order and security.
As Giorgi Gotsiridze, a member of Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) suggested, by the Constitutional Court’s ruling, Parliament would have to determine a clear list of drugs that do not cause addiction and aggressive behavior.
Georgian Narcologist, David Vadachkoria stated that the decision of the court is a “little confusing.” As he said, the goal of drug policy should be decriminalization, but according to the decision of the court, some people will still end up in prison for using different drugs. Vadachkoria also said that the terms “less aggressive and less addictive drugs” are very individual to each case.
“The same drug might cause mental illness to someone and not harm another at all. The aim of modern drug policy is decriminalization, and I could not see that in the decision of the Court,” stressed Vadachkoria.
He also said that dividing drugs into “light and heavy is not scientifically correct, and it represents more of a legal approach. It appears that specialists were not involved in the decision-making process, and what they ended up with, leaves room for many different interpretations.”
On the other hand, the lawyer of Constitutional Litigation of GYLA, Eka Mamrikishvili noted that the decision is a step towards drug liberalization and can only be seen as a positive development. According to her, the problem now is that there is no list of drugs that are less prone to aggression and addiction. Until the Parliament begins to work on a specific list in accordance with the decision, the court will have to discuss the constitutionality of imprisonment in individual cases.
While Mamrikishvili urges the Parliament to start working on the list from this September, Chairperson of the Healthcare and Social Issues Committee of the Parliament of Georgia, Akaki Zoidze says that he does not agree with the decision of the court.
He says it will be difficult to divide drugs as less and more dangerous “because even cannabis can cause aggression during regular use.” As he said, it would be better “if the people who are addicted to drugs were sent to rehabilitation centers instead of jail.” Zoidze also noted that he is a supporter of the decriminalization and thinks that “jail is not a rehabilitation facility.”
Zurab Sikharulidze, another Georgian Narcologist, also talked about the decision of the court and said that large-scale research is needed to determine which drugs are more dangerous.
“Until the research is not done in the country, nobody can say which drugs are less harmful. Everything depends on the person; this is a very difficult and unclear decision,” noted Sikharulidze.
Under the current law, drug use is a punishable offense, leading to both a fine and imprisonment. As of today, people are only free to use marijuana, and the Parliament of Georgia has already defined the areas where the use of marijuana is prohibited.
The decriminalization of marijuana was a big step forward in the Georgian drug policy. Before that, Georgia had a strict anti-drug policy, under which offenders could have been jailed for up to 14 years.
Just over a year ago, on 30 July 2018, the Constitutional Court of Georgia ruled that “consumption of marijuana is an action protected by the right to free personality.”
