On June 4, 2020, the Constitutional Court satisfied another claim filed by GYLA. GYLA defended the interests of one of the citizens, who was found guilty of storing 0.00000126 grams of methamphetamine. It is a substance invisible to the naked eye as a result of drug use, a scraping from a dish that can not be sold or even consumed. Nevertheless, the purchase and possession of invisible drugs was punishable by imprisonment for a term of five to eight years. (GYLA's claim was merged with another person's claim and discussed together).
In the court that GYLA claimed conviction of a person for possession of such a small amount of drugs, which could not be distributed but even consumed, was a violation of Article 9(2) of the Constitution of Georgia. Constitutional Court shared GYLA's arguments and it invalidated imprisonment for five to eight years for the purchase and storage of any amount of unusable drugs.
Also, the Constitutional Court said that the amount of narcotics that can be used for consumption should be determined by the court hearing a criminal case regarding each specific drug.
GYLA welcomes the decision of the Constitutional Court and hopes that this ruling will be a step forward to implement humane drug policy.
The Georgian Young Lawyers' Association is proceeding the case with the support of USAID/PROLoG.
ჯ. კახიძის #15, თბილისი, საქართველო, 0102 ; ტელ: (995 32) 95 23 53; ფაქსი: (995 32) 92 32 11; ელ-ფოსტა: gyla@gyla.ge; www.gyla.ge
15, J. Kakhidze str. 0102, Tbilisi, Georgia. Tel: (995 32) 95 23 53; Fax: (995 32) 92 32 11; E-mail: gyla@gyla.ge; www.gyla.ge