LIBERAL DRUG LAW ANNULLED

Yesterday the Constitutional Court annulled the liberal rules of drug comsumption and distribution. According to the explanation the paragraph included in the Criminal Code in December, 2002 did not protect children’s rights and it was inconsistent with the international norms and agreements. The judges refused the option that drug consumers should not be punished. Fidesz and MDF claim the government drug policy has failed.

The Constitutional Court says in its discipline-based verdict that drug abuse should be punished because drug consumption and drug dealing are not constitutional rights. It is erroneous to think that drug consumption is part of self-realization or self-expression.

Chairman András Holló said there was no such thing as a right to being dazed though he added the constitution was neutral from the point of view of different world views. ’The basic rights are those of human life and dignity’, he said. Csaba Hende, political state secretary of the Ministry of Justice in the previous government said the annulled law was politically doctrinaire, morally false, and professionally unfounded. The petition to the Constitutional Court had been initiated by Csaba Hende who said the failure showed the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice, too, which failed in the case of the preparation of the so-called ’hate speech’ law.

Translated by Péter Szentmihályi Szabó