Putin Demands to Introduce Criminal Punishment for Drug Propaganda on the Internet

OREANDA-NEWS. President of Russia Vladimir Putin instructed the government to prepare amendments to the Criminal Code and introduce responsibility for the promotion of drugs through the Internet. This follows from the list of instructions of the head of state published on the Kremlin website.

The president demanded amendments to the law that establish a punishment “for abetment of consumption or promotion of narcotic, psychotropic substances or their analogues using the… Internet,” the document says.

A proposal to punish the propaganda and advertising of drugs on the Web was earlier made by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The agency submitted the amendments to the legislation for public discussion. In contrast to the president’s order, the ministry planned to introduce not criminal, but administrative liability. In a document that appeared in January 2019, the Ministry of Internal Affairs proposed punishing citizens for such activities with a fine in the amount of from 3 thousand to 4 thousand roubles (47–63 US dollars). The punishment could be much more serious for officials, individual entrepreneurs and legal entities. For them drug propaganda on the Internet could result in a fine of up to 1 million roubles (about 15.700 dollars) or administrative suspension of activities for up to 90 days. The ministry explained its proposal by the fact that advertising drugs on the Internet is much more dangerous than other means, “since in this case the circle of people, including under-ages, exposed to pro-narcotic content is not limited.”