In the field of chemistry, there are many compounds that are used now or have been used previously in medicine. In addition, many by-products of chemical reactions have become narcotic drugs launched into the masses illegally.
If stupefying or psychotropic drugs are acquired, stored or sold, the person committing these actions is criminally liable. The sale or use of narcotic drugs for medicinal purposes is not considered a crime.
Letter of the law
The Criminal Code contains several articles related to the unauthorized use of drugs. Among them, 228 article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. According to this provision, liability arises in the manufacture, purchase or storage of the actual narcotic drugs, as well as their precursors and analogues or plants that contain these same substances. At the same time, the person committing these actions is not a medical institution or a pharmaceutical factory.
Only the number of drugs is relevant to the right qualifications. Unlike similar provisions, which also refer to narcotic drugs, article 228 of the Criminal Code does not affect the sale of substances that are carried out by unauthorized persons.
Depending on the amount of funds discovered and seized, punishment is given to the perpetrator. There is a significant, large and especially large amount of drugs. It should be noted that article 228 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation a size smaller than significant is not considered a crime. However, for many drugs or chemical compounds, the mass, which is not prohibited by law, is so small that we can talk about a complete ban on the circulation of these substances.
Part 1. Acquisition
It is necessary to pay attention to the very formulation of the crime, which contains article 228, part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. According to the code, it is forbidden to acquire, store, transport, manufacture and process drugs.
Under the acquisition, the legislator means not only the transfer of substances for money, but also in other ways: for free, in exchange for services or information. The gratuitousness of the transaction in this case does not exempt from liability, since the decisive is the narcotic drug (in any form), and not finances. Even if a citizen found drugs, it is considered one of the types of acquisition.
Part 1. Storage
If illicitly obtained substances, which are drugs of stupefying or psychotropic effects, simply lie in a certain place and no action is taken with them, this is considered storage.
Article 228, part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for situations when drugs, which must be in places specially designated for them on special conditions, are placed with a private person. As a rule, the perpetrators do not have the rights and authority to retain substances prohibited for free circulation in Russia.
Part 1. Shipping
Drug trafficking is also punishable by law. As in the case of storage, the movement of substances should be carried out only by authorized persons. In addition, any medical product has temperature and other conditions under which it can be stored and transported so as not to lose its properties.
Part 1. Production
Article 228 provides for the very process of preparing narcotic mixtures, in contrast to other articles that refer to production. The manufacture is not widespread, the substances obtained as a result are used or are planned for use for a limited circle of people. Production is a larger systematic process aimed at obtaining a large number of drugs.
Part 1. Recycling
Often cunning addicts collect the necessary remedy in parts, mixing certain ingredients. In this case, in order to separate processing from manufacture, it should be understood that the constituents themselves are already narcotic drugs, but for certain reasons are not used by specific individuals. To obtain the desired effect, drug users have to carry out special treatment of substances, which not only does not reduce the properties, but also significantly increases the psychotropic effect.
Part 2
Article 228, part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is completely different in meaning from the same sections of the rest of the Criminal Code.
As noted earlier, only the amount of drugs is relevant for qualification under this article. The second part provides for a crime committed on a large scale. Thus, the acquisition, transportation and other actions are committed by the criminal in relation to drugs, the mass of which is several times greater than the amount of the substance in the first part.
Accordingly, article 228, part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation does not contain instructions on who exactly commits the crime. As a rule, those who do this for themselves, not for sale or any other form of sale, are guilty.
It is important to understand that criminal liability occurs even if a drug with a narcotic effect is found in the amount necessary for use by only one person in the amount of one or more doses of the substance.
Part 3
The especially large size of the substances that are the subject of the crime, which provides for Article 228 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, implies the presence of a large amount of drugs in relation to the minimum punishable. Each psychotropic drug or drug with intoxicating properties has its own quantity threshold, that is, there is no single measure. For example, for anasha, an especially large size will be 10 thousand grams of the amount of funds, and significant - only 2 grams. Illegal cannabis trafficking in Russia is considered particularly large in terms of product volume of 100 thousand grams, and large - only 100 grams.
Differences from other norms
The next provision on the list in the code contains more positions than article 228. Part 4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in article 228.1 also provides for punishment for large drug trafficking. However, this is not about own use, but about selling (or other forms of marketing).
In addition, the subjects of a crime that are not indicated in Article 228, part 4 of the Criminal Code of Article 228.1 are indicated as follows:
- 18-year-olds in relation to minors;
- citizens in office;
- organized group.
Scroll
Criminal articles cannot be considered without other related documents explaining many standards and rules. So, there is a list of all substances, precursors and plants that have a psychotropic and narcotic effect, established by the Government of the Russian Federation in the federal law "On Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances." Difficulties in using this list are that new substances appear that have a stupefying, and often strong psychotropic effect, characterized by persistence, strength of action and instant addiction.
Listing a new chemical or herbal narcotic drug takes a lot of time. Meanwhile, while the substance is investigated, it will have time to spread to a large territory. Therefore, today the task of the legislator is to ensure that the Federal Law takes into account these moments and contains a unique description of the substance (including the chemical name), under which any narcotic drug could be suitable.
Punishment of Part 1
For a crime committed in relation to life and health, the perpetrator must be held criminally liable. Its scale depends only on the amount of narcotic drugs that came to the citizen and is used (or planned for use) by him.
For a significant amount of the drug, expressed in grams, without conversion to the active substance, as described in Article 228 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the penalty may be in the following options:
- a fine of up to 40 thousand rubles;
- Mandatory work up to 60 days (with a working day of 8 hours);
- corrective labor up to 2 years;
- restriction of liberty up to 3 years or imprisonment for the same period of time.
Moreover, each type of punishment should be applied separately. For example, the guilty person is assigned only a fine or only imprisonment.
Punishment of Part 2
Large-scale drug trafficking under Article 228 entails more severe sanctions - imprisonment from 3 to 10 years with a fine of up to 500 thousand rubles with restriction of freedom (or without it) up to 1 year. It must be recalled that the restriction of freedom in this context means the possibility of enforcement measures of the type of administrative supervision after serving a term.
Punishment of Part 3
For illicit trafficking of substances acting on the nervous system and human identity in a sufficiently large amount, the legislator established the same type of punishment as with a large amount. The differences are in the term of imprisonment - from 10 to 15 years - and the term of restriction of freedom - up to one and a half years.
The fine, which is applied in conjunction with imprisonment, is also 500 thousand.
Voluntary surrender
Article 228 contains not only sanctions for drug trafficking, but also some explanations. In particular, the possibility of exemption from liability is noted if a citizen voluntarily surrenders the available drugs. In the event that a person was detained and one of the funds indicated in the disposition of the article was seized from him , this is not considered a voluntary surrender.
If a citizen was sent to law enforcement agencies with drugs for surrender and police officers stopped him on the way to check documents, you need to voice your intentions. This must be done before possible detention for any reason, otherwise, during a search (if it is suddenly carried out), the drugs found will be the basis for initiating a criminal investigation. In this case, it is practically impossible to prove that voluntary surrender was planned.
Volume
When detecting narcotic substances in an individual, it can be very difficult to prove that the drugs were intended for sale. People who are somehow connected with this area are aware of possible sanctions, so they will insist that they did not have a goal to sell substances, that is, there was no intention to sell drugs.
Comparing part 3 of article 228 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and part 4 of article 228.1, you can see that if there is a large amount, imprisonment in the first case is up to 15 years and a fine up to 500 thousand rubles, in the second - up to 20 years and a fine - up to 1 million rubles. Accordingly, different terms and fines are assigned for the same amount. However, in the first case (under Article 228) there is no purpose of sale, and therefore the guilty person who is charged with the act under this article is not as dangerous to society as the one who intended to sell drugs in the same amount.