What are the drugs the Ukrainians are convicted for most often?
Cannabis, amphetamine, methadone, morphine, and ecstasy are the most often mentioned in the court register.
25 January 2021
About 15,000 drug-related convictions were entered in the court register over the past year. In terms of mentions, the top drugs were cannabis (6,778 convictions), amphetamine (1,814), methadone (1,552), methamphetamine (524), and ecstasy (167).
Cocaine, poppy straw, desomorphine, heroin, LSD, and opium are also mentioned.
| Hash, cannabis, marijuana | 6,788 | 60.1% |
|---|---|---|
| Amphetamine | 1,814 | 16.1% |
| Methadone | 1,552 | 13.7% |
| Methamphetamine | 534 | 4.7% |
| Ecstasy (MDMA) | 167 | 1.5% |
| Morphine | 159 | 1.4% |
| Cocaine | 56 | 0.5% |
| Poppy straw | 137 | 1.2% |
| Desomorphine | 30 | 0.3% |
| Heroin | 20 | 0.2% |
| LSD | 24 | 0.2% |
| Opium | 9 | 0.1% |
Can marijuana get you convicted?
The debate about the decriminalization of marijuana has continued in society for a few years already. There are also draft laws intended to regulate its legal use for medical purposes. However, it is still involved the most often in drug-related criminal proceedings.
And it can result in a longer prison term than murder. For instance, on 23 December 2020, an eleventh-grader was sentenced to six years of penal colony for drug peddling in Volyn. A little under 3 grams of the plant substance was recovered from him as a result of a straw purchase.
What criminal charges the courts issue most often?
Over 20,000 Ukrainians were charged with distribution, production, and possession of drugs in 2020, 20% up from 2017.
Most drug-related criminal cases were initiated pursuant to Articles 307 and 309 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, both prescribing penalties for illegal production, making, purchasing, storage, transportation, or sending of drugs. While Article 307 covers their sale, Article 309 doesn’t.
Over the past year, 4,865 Ukrainians were convicted under Article 307 and 15,137 under Article 309, against 2,758 and 13,682 respectively four years earlier.
| Year | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 309 (no distribution) | 13,682 | 15,422 | 15,514 | 15,137 |
| Art. 307 | 2,758 | 3,490 | 4,187 | 4,865 |
Convictions pursuant to the other 23 drug-related articles are extremely rare at less than 20 instances annually.
How do I check if a person was convicted of drug distribution?
Ukrainian employers can now check their new hires for charges pursuant to the articles in question. Monitoring can be enabled via Opendatabot’s API.
Source: Opendatabot
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