Supreme Court of Georgia

Conference “Law on Drugs at the Legal Cross-Road – Liberalization of Drug Control System” at the Supreme Court of Georgia

Published: 05/15/2018

The conference on  “Law on Drugs at the Legal Cross-Road – Liberalization of Drug Control    System” , organized by the Supreme Court of Georgia  and the  Freiburg Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law , was held in the plenum hall of the Supreme Court of Georgia.

The attendees  were  addressed  by the Chairperson of the  Supreme Court of Georgia and HCoJ , Nino Gvenetadze . The participants of the Conference were also  welcomed by the  director of the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and Inter­national Criminal Law ,Prof.Hans-Jörg Albrecht, The Chair of the Legal Issues Committee  Eka Beselia and Chair of the Health Care and Social Issues Committee, Akaki Zoidze.

Speaking about the legislative amendments implemented in the direction of drug policy, Nino Gvenetadze noted that the legislative amendments are the results of the  changes recently developed  in Georgia and in the world in the direction of drug policy, together with the new challenges our society faces  today. In the criminal justice process, the norms regulating drug crimes needed to be  in line with international standards and obligations.

At the same time, the case-law decisions of the Constitutional Court, has show  that it is important to take into account the relevant legislative safeguards and alternative measures   to protect the rights and freedoms of individuals, in order to replace the punitive legal  system by the approach oriented on outcomes and the harm reduction ,taking into account the social, economic or other factors in the country.

One of the important aspects of the conference was discussion of our international colleagues about international comparative legal issues of liberalization of legislation related to drug offenses and sharing the experience of other countries on the development of regulations and current tendencies.

At the end of the conference the discussed issues were summarized by the rapporteurs.