Deputies threatened with prison for inviting teenagers to “go smoke”

A bill on criminal liability for involvement in smoking has been introduced to the State Duma

Six months of arrest or a 200 thousand ruble criminal fine—these punishments were proposed by State Duma deputies to be introduced for negligent parents who buy cigarettes and vapes for their children. The Duma members are confident that administrative sanctions for those who teach the younger generation to smoke are not enough. True, the initiative stumbled from the threshold over a negative review from the Cabinet of Ministers.

Nowadays there are fines for involving minors in smoking. But the sanctions, frankly speaking, are lenient. For parents – an administrative fine of 5 to 7 thousand rubles. For everyone else, even less – from 2 to 5 thousand. There is no more severe type of responsibility.

Now there is every chance that she will appear. 14 deputies from four Duma factions (all except the LDPR) introduced amendments to the Criminal Code to the State Duma. They talk about much more severe sanctions for those who have not learned anything from an administrative fine.

What is important is that the draft amendments provide for criminal liability only for adults. Another nuance is administrative prejudice. A criminal case for involving minors in the consumption of tobacco and vaping will be initiated only if the suspect has previously been brought to administrative responsibility for the same actions twice in a year.

The draft amendments are divided into two parts. The first contains punishments for sellers, friends or random passers-by. Their Duma members propose to punish them with a fine of up to one hundred thousand rubles, compulsory labor for up to 240 hours, correctional labor for up to a year, or arrest for up to three months.

For parents, teachers and educators, the sanctions are stricter: a fine of up to 200 thousand rubles, compulsory labor for up to 360 hours, correctional labor for up to two years, restriction of freedom for the same period or six months under arrest.

In the explanatory note to the bill, the authors remind us what should be understood by involvement in the smoking process. This is the sale or transfer of tobacco products, as well as an offer to go for a smoke break and even a demand to “take a drag.”

The Duma members explain why sanctions should be raised to the criminal level. In their opinion, administrative fines do not work.

The co-author of the amendments, United Russia deputy Sultan Khamzaev, explained to MK that the current fines do not scare anyone. According to the parliamentarian, parents sometimes behave especially strangely:

— It happens that a parent himself goes and buys an electronic cigarette for his child, believing that it is not as harmful as classic tobacco. We must be held accountable for this,” said the parliamentarian.

Khamzaev is sure that the easiest way to hold adults accountable is if a child smokes right in front of them. But there are worse cases.

“There is another option: a teacher at school takes away a vape from a child, and then the mother comes to school and demands it back, because this “toy” costs two to three thousand rubles,” said the deputy.

The bill has already received negative feedback from the government. The Cabinet of Ministers considered the initiative unnecessary and recalled that in April of this year, amendments were made to the Code of Administrative Offenses to tighten penalties for involving children in smoking. For example, for parents the fine was not three thousand rubles, but seven. Moreover, the review signed by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko reminds Duma members of the position of the Constitutional Court. He once pointed out that criminal liability is a last resort. You can enter it if nothing else helps. But the authors of the bill in the explanatory note did not even bother to provide statistical data to confirm the ineffectiveness of the current sanctions, the Cabinet of Ministers said in its conclusion.