Treatment, not prosecution, for drug addicts in Belarus

Drug addicts in Belarus will be treated instead of being facing criminal prosecution, Romuald Andrieuski, a deputy chief of drug enforcement task force at the Interior Ministry, said in a statement. Criminal prosecution can be replaced with a forced medical treatment in a rehabilitation facility can become possible only if a drug addict committes the first felony offence which is not classified as a grave crime.

Annually, Belarus reports a steady increase in the number of drug-dependant patients. As of May 1, 2008 almost 7000 drug addicts were registered in this country. It is three-times more than in 1995, reports naviny.by