Drug propaganda: rappers will be imprisoned, but not immediately

Three bills (one amending the current law “On Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances”, the other – in the Code of Administrative Offenses, and the third – in the Criminal Code) the government submitted to the State Duma at the end of March 2023. In the first reading, all of them can be adopted on May 30 – the relevant Duma committees proposed to approve the concept of these documents.

Speaking about the essence of the proposed innovations at a meeting of the Committee on Health Protection, Deputy Interior Minister Igor Zubov, who represented the government, said that it was “about filling the legal problem associated with the lack of a clear ban on drug propaganda in Russian legislation.” The concept itself is now being “specified”, that is, “a complete ban on the promotion of drug trafficking is introduced, in contrast to the existing ban on some of its elements,” the explanatory note to the base bill says. There was an order from the President of the Russian Federation, in Russia there is a “concept of zero tolerance for drugs”, soon Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev will hold a meeting on this topic, representatives of many countries of the world will come to it, the speaker said …

By the way, he noted, drugs are legalized in a third of the countries of the world, and there is no question of any prohibition of propaganda there in principle. And in our country, consumption is not encouraged, illegal consumption is punished, which means that all actions that promote drug trafficking must be stopped. Mr. Zubov read out a new wording of the concept: “propaganda of illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their analogues, consumption of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, cultivation of narcotic plants, expressed in the public dissemination of information: on methods, methods of illegal development, manufacture, production and use of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and (or) their analogues, places of their illegal acquisition, methods and places of illegal cultivation of narcotic plants; on the admissibility or attractiveness of the illegal consumption of narcotic drugs and (or) psychotropic substances, the commission of other illegal actions in relation to narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and (or) their analogues, drug-containing plants by justifying or presenting these actions as generally accepted norms of behavior “… Of course, to On the second reading, this wording can be clarified, he immediately stipulated, and admitted: the bill “is not as simple as it seems, it will take time to build law enforcement” …

It is difficult to say to whom the bill seemed “simple”, at least “MK” did not meet this in the State Duma. But those who smoke marijuana or sniff cocaine on the screen are now banned for sure.

About such, however, a reservation is made in the bill. The new ban will not apply to “works of science, literature and art” published in the territory of the Russian Federation or abroad before January 1, 2024, where there is information about the admissibility or attractiveness of illegal drug consumption, justification or “presentation of these actions as generally accepted norms of behavior”. . And after January 1, 2024, all of the above can be shown, printed and distributed, only accompanied by information that for illegal trafficking, consumption, cultivation of narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances, the laws of the Russian Federation threaten with liability “up to life imprisonment”, and that illegal drug use “causes addiction and directly threatens human life and health”.

Will it be possible to show works of science, literature and art created after January 1, 2024, provided they are accompanied by threatening inscriptions (after all, a ban is a ban), or does the permission apply only to those created earlier? There is no clear answer to this question. This is what Mr. Zubov told the deputies: “We do not assume here that tomorrow we will ban all films about the drug mafia, all books. We are talking about works and public statements that incline a person to drug use, form the attitude that drug use gives him a kind of social lift. And we still make some references to the fact that adaptation is needed – before January 1, 2024, it takes time to develop practice in order to deal with the stream of legal public works today, from which it will be necessary to single out those that will be banned. In order not to trample on public space, but for it to regulate itself.”

Appropriate changes will be made to both the law “On Mass Media” and the law “On Information, Information Technologies…”, which governs the activities of the Internet in Russia.

“A subtle moment – works of art, books, films. There was some discussion about what that warning would look like? Running line, solid, dark screen with an inscription? Will the distribution of movie fragments and episodes with marijuana or cocaine smoking on the Internet also be considered propaganda? And “Pulp Fiction”, this cult film, will be completely banned?” Alexei Kurinny (KPRF) asked for clarification. “There will be another government decree by which we will try to regulate all issues. To be honest, I myself still have hesitations – how to do it. I understand what needs to be done, but we will think how, ”he replied. Mr. Zubov believes that “civil society in the country is strong now, and no matter what the critics say, they will quickly correct it if there are strong excesses” …

“An analysis of the State Anti-Drug Committee regarding the current operational situation on the drug situation shows that despite the fact that the situation in the field of drug trafficking in the Russian Federation remains stable and controlled, the level of the drug threat remains. As of January 1, 2022, there were 449.7 thousand drug users registered in specialized medical institutions of the Ministry of Health of Russia and the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia, which corresponds to the level of 2020”, and in the Strategy of the State Anti-Drug Policy until 2030, approved by the presidential decree, it is determined that “The large-scale use of the Internet to promote illegal drug use is one of the threats to national security,” the Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption said in its opinion on the basic bill.

Corresponding to the new understanding of “propaganda of drug trafficking”, changes will also be made to the Code of Administrative Offenses. The second of the bills of the package transfers the new wording to the “old” article 6.13 of the code, which still punishes for the promotion and “illegal advertising” of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances or their precursors, plants containing such substances or their precursors, and the promotion of new potentially dangerous psychoactive substances (an exception is the dissemination of relevant information in specialized publications intended for health workers and pharmacists). At the same time, it is proposed to leave the punishments generally the same: fines for citizens, for example, from 4 to 5 thousand rubles, in the case of propaganda on the Internet – from 5 to 30 thousand rubles. For legal entities, the maximum fines reach 1 million – 1 million 500 thousand rubles.

A note to this updated article of the Code of Administrative Offenses exempts from administrative responsibility “dissemination of information” about drug trafficking “when highlighting the results of the activities of state authorities, local governments and specially authorized bodies” that fight drugs, “as well as in the implementation of educational, scientific and expert activity. That is, representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, for example, will be able to say who, where and when illegally consumed, distributed or grown, but ordinary mortals, not officials and not law enforcement officers, not teachers or scientists with experts – no.

At the same time, amendments are made to Article 13.41 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, which punishes for violation of the procedure for restricting access to prohibited information (any) by the provider, owner of the site or site page. Here the logic is the same: the composition of the offense is specified, but the punishments remain the same. For example, if the owner of a site or an Internet resource does not remove information or a page containing propaganda of drug trafficking in its new sense, he will face a fine of one hundred thousand to two hundred thousand rubles for citizens, from four hundred thousand to eight hundred thousand rubles for officials, and from three million to eight million rubles for legal entities.

The profile Committee on State Construction and Legislation supported this bill (the consideration was held by poll), expressing several comments on it. In particular, the committee’s conclusion states that for promoting the cultivation of drug-containing plants, it is proposed to establish a fine for legal entities in the amount of 800 thousand to 1 million rubles or suspension of activities for up to 90 days, although for the illegal cultivation of these plants, responsibility for legal entities in another article of the Code of Administrative Offenses, which is not corrected – 100-300 thousand rubles …

But that’s not all! Those who were administratively punished for promoting drug trafficking on the Internet and committed another similar violation during the year, the government promises a criminal case. It is planned to supplement the Criminal Code with a new special article: a fine of up to 50 thousand rubles, an alternative – compulsory, forced or corrective labor, and in the worst case – imprisonment for up to 2 years with the same duration of a ban on certain positions and professions. The same punishment will also threaten those previously convicted under this new article, but caught on propaganda on the Internet again.

The government considers actions on the Internet to be particularly socially dangerous, “because they reach a multi-million audience, a significant part of which are minors, and also contributes to the expansion of the market for prohibited substances,” the explanatory note to the third bill says. The introduction of criminal liability for propaganda of illicit trafficking and consumption of drugs “including” is also aimed at implementing the provisions of the 1988 UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances. The investigation will be conducted by employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and justices of the peace will be assigned to consider cases under the new article of the Criminal Code.

The Supreme Court supported the government, proposing to expand the circle of possible defendants under the new article of the Criminal Code by including those who had previously been convicted under any other “drug” article of the Criminal Code, and then engaged in propaganda on the Internet.

When discussing the bill in the Committee for Health Protection, Badma Bashankaev (ER) recalled that at one time everyone was fond of rock and roll, “and our children listen to rap, where drugs are mentioned through one song.” “There are thousands of them, are we going to jail them all?” – he asked. Mr. Zubov assured that no one was going to imprison anyone right away. “We will have preventive conversations with rappers who sing about drugs, and if it doesn’t help, well, we’ll put them in jail” … – he said.

The package should come into effect on January 1, 2024.