The girl told drug control that an acquaintance had treated her to cannabis. He was detained

Nikita (name changed) shared with Legalize Belarus the story of his friend facing persecution under Article 328 based on another person’s testimony.

The girl told drug control that an acquaintance had treated her to cannabis. He was detained
Legalize Belarus
27 February 2024
Stories of the convicted

«My friend took cannabis with his acquaintance, and later she caught the attention of drug control. She didn’t have anything with her, but the test results turned out positive. They started interrogating the girl, and she decided to say that my friend treated her with cannabis,» Nikita remembers.

«As a result, drug control officers came to my friend’s home. He wasn’t there, so they called him and said they needed to talk, supposedly within the context of some other case. Then they came to my friend’s workplace, searched all his things, box with clothes, phone, and took him for testing. The analysis turned out positive,» the man adds.

«After that, they went together to my friend’s home, but found nothing there either. Drug control officers began to intimidate him, saying he could face charges for distributing psychoactive substances, demanding that he agree with the girl’s words. However, my friend refused to give statements. There was no evidence of his guilt, so they let him go,» says Nikita.

«Although everything ended well, I believe that the laws in our country are very harsh and sometimes inhumane, especially for those who simply make a mistake or use substances themselves. It’s like alcohol—it’s a personal matter for everyone,» the man shares his opinion.

«I think it would be right to decriminalize the possession of psychoactive substances for personal use, so as not to ruin the lives of people for mistakes that harmed no one. As for legalization, I think our society is not ready for it yet,» says Nikita.

The material was created based on anonymous monitoring.

 
Можно, если осторожно

Вступай в наш клуб за гуманную наркополитику. Твои данные не будут переданы третьим лицам.

Creative Commons Licence

Unless otherwise noted, text of this article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.