Announcing the Law on Drug Prevention and Combat

On the morning of April 16, in Hanoi, the President’s Office held a press conference to announce the State President’s Order to announce the Law on Drug Prevention and Control, passed by the 14th National Assembly, the 11th session on 30 / 3/2021.
Mr. Pham Thanh Ha, Vice Chairman of the Office of the State President, Senior Lieutenant General Le Quy Vuong, Deputy Minister of Public Security co-chaired the press conference.

At the press conference, comrade Pham Thanh Ha announced the President’s Order on the announcement of the Law on Drug Prevention and Combat. Senior Lieutenant General Le Quy Vuong introduced the basic contents of the Law on Drug Prevention and Combat.

The law consists of 8 chapters and 55 articles, specifying drug prevention policies, which emphasize “giving priority to drug prevention and control resources for ethnic minorities and mountainous, remote and isolated areas. islands, border areas and drug-complex areas ”,“ officers and soldiers of agencies specialized in drug-related crime prevention and control, drug addicts in drug treatment facilities Public drug addicts are entitled to preferential regimes and policies suitable to the nature of their tasks and areas of operation according to the Government’s regulations ”.

Deputy Minister Le Quy Vuong introduced the basic contents of the Law on Drug Prevention and Control

Additional regulations on a number of prohibited acts such as “illegal research, testing and verification of narcotic substances, precursors, addictive drugs, psychotropic drugs, precursors, medicinal ingredients that are narcotic substances. , psychotropic substances, drug precursors, veterinary drugs that contain narcotic substances or precursors “,” oppose or obstruct drug testing in the body, determine drug addiction status, manage Illegal drug users, drug addiction treatment, post-detoxification management “,” instruction for production, illegal use of drugs, marketing of narcotics “,” discrimination against users illegal drugs, drug addicts, drug addicts “.

The Law specifies the responsibilities of agencies, organizations, individuals, families and communities in drug prevention and fight; specifying agencies in charge of drug-related crime prevention and combat and principles of coordination of agencies specialized in drug-related crime prevention and control.

Additional Law regulates control of drug precursors, medicinal ingredients that are narcotic active ingredients, psychotropic active ingredients, drug precursors, and veterinary drugs containing narcotic substances or precursors; additional control over activities of temporary import for re-export, temporary export for re-import of narcotic substances, precursors, narcotic drugs, psychotropic drugs, precursors, medicinal ingredients that are narcotic active ingredients, or pharmaceuticals psychotropic substances, drug precursors and veterinary drugs that contain narcotic substances and precursors to enhance the management of legal drug-related activities, contributing to improving the capacity to detect and prevent crime of illegal production of narcotics.

The management of illegal users of narcotics is a new provision of the Law compared to the 2000 Law on Drug Prevention and Control, amended and supplemented in 2008. The Law has specified specific cases of drug testing in muscle. (Article 22) for the authorities to have an objective basis to determine the person committing illegal drug use and to monitor the person who has the illegal use of narcotics.

Illegal drug users are listed and managed, monitored and supported right from the first detection of illegal drug use and this is not a measure to handle administrative violations. (Article 23).

The law specifies cases of drug addiction identification in order to facilitate the classification and management of subjects and the application of appropriate management and detoxification measures (Article 27). The detoxification measures include: voluntary drug addiction treatment is carried out in families, communities or at drug addiction establishments; Compulsory drug addiction treatment is done at public drug addiction establishments. The law does not prescribe compulsory detoxification measures in the community.

Drug addicts aged 18 years or older who do not register, do not conduct or voluntarily terminate voluntary drug addiction, treat addiction to opioid substances with substitute drugs; continuing to illegally use narcotics during voluntary drug detoxification, terminating treatment of opioid addiction with substitution drugs due to violation of regulations on addiction treatment; during post-drug detoxification and relapse management, apply administrative handling measures to sending to compulsory detoxification establishments (Article 32).

The law specifies the preparation of dossiers of application for consignment to compulsory detoxification establishments for drug addicts aged between full 12 years and under 18 years (Article 34), specifying the subjects and the later management duration. detoxification at residence (Article 40) and no regulations on post-detoxification management at detoxification establishments; regulations on drug addiction treatment for Vietnamese expelled by foreign countries for illegal use of narcotics or drug addiction; foreign drug addicts living in Vietnam (Article 37).

The law takes effect from January 1, 2022.