ZAGREB, June 20 (Hina) - The Croatian Government on Thursday proposed that possession of addictive drugs, plants and matter that drugs can be produced from should no longer be a criminal act but rather a violation.
ZAGREB, June 20 (Hina) - The Croatian Government on Thursday
proposed that possession of addictive drugs, plants and matter that
drugs can be produced from should no longer be a criminal act but
rather a violation. #L#
The violation would incur a financial penalty between 5,000 and
20,000 kuna (EUR680 and 2,721).
The Government formulated a bill of amendments to the law on the
prevention of abuse of addictive drugs and forwarded it to
parliamentary procedure for urgent adoption.
Justice Minister Ingrid Anticevic Marinovic justified the bill
with the fact that almost 80 percent of criminal acts relating to
the abuse of addictive drugs referred to possession, the least
dangerous form of abuse which usually punishes users and not
dealers or narco-bosses.
She noted that the bill does not mean the same as decriminalising
light drugs.
The Government formulated a bill of amendments to the Law on the
Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences (HAZU) according to which,
academics would have the right to supplementary pension allowance
which will require an amount of 1.7 million kuna (EUR0.23 million)
from the state budget.
The Government adopted a report on the measures undertaken to
remove the causes of violations of human rights which was first
submitted to the Sabor by the State Ombudsman.
The Government obliged all state bodies to within six months report
on the implementation of measures to protect human rights while the
Office for the Protection of Human Rights is to prepare a full
report.
A bill on protection from noise was also forwarded to the Sabor.
According to the bill, counties, towns and municipalities will be
obliged to come up with maps and action plans to deal with noise.
The Government established the Agency for Environmental Protection
for which about one million kuna (EUR136,000) has been secured.
The Government endorsed a loan contract with the Council of
Europe's Development Bank. The loan will be utilised to reconstruct
the "Andrija Stampar" School of National Health in Zagreb and an
international centre of the same name for health management,
located in Dubrovnik.
The loan amounts to 21.4 million kuna (EUR2.91 million) while an
equivalent amount would be secured from domestic sources.
(hina) sp sb