The Parliament passed a new law on drugs, following complaints by officials of the legal sector that the old law on drugs was outdated. They continue to complain even after the enforcement of the new Drug Act, citing the numerous problems associated with the new law.

An official of the Drug Court said that even though rehabilitation policies for drug abusers had been established by the new law, they were not being implemented.

“The current Drug Act does not include ways to rehabilitate people who abuse medical drugs. It is crucial that the Act is revised to include this. They [medical drug abusers] can only be treated when the parliament includes this in the law,” he said.

The current law does not address ways to rehabilitate those who are serving prison sentences for abusing medical drugs.

Lawyer Abdullah Haseen said that the law does not support efforts to bring drug abusers back into society through treatment.

He said that it had become common practice among drug users to abuse medical drugs, and stressed the importance of laws to treat those who abuse medical drugs without doctors’ prescriptions. He said that otherwise, the problem as a whole cannot be solved.

Defence lawyer Adam Asif, who has worked for five years at the Police Drug Enforcement Department, said that experts describe the new Drug Act as ‘weak’.

“Chapter 2 of the Act is about abuse of medical drugs. However there is no obvious policy for convicting or penalising a person for abusing medical drugs. So there is no way they can be treated,” Asif said.

Lawyer Ali Shah said that there are several problems associated with the Drug Act, and that the reason for this is that the Act was passed by the parliament without consultation with legal experts.

“Opinions of legal experts on the issue were not included in the law. There was no consultation with senior officials of the judicial sector, or with any lawyers. So what really happened was that the law was made by fishermen, farmers and resort owners who occupy parliament seats,” he said.

Lawyer Abdullah Shaair highlighted that a major shortcoming of the Drug Act is that cases against people who confess to using drugs during the investigation process, are often sent to Drug Court several months later.

He said that the case is first sent to the Prosecutor General, and by the time it is filed to Court, the suspect would have had time to abuse drugs repeatedly.

He said that the Police should be able to filed cases to Drug Court, and the law should include detailed policies on how abusers can be treated.

Member of Parliament for Kelaa constituency, Abdullah Mausoom said that the current democratic system in the Maldives allows laws to be revised.

“The system adopted by the country allows room to propose revisions. Not everything can be perfect when they are finalised,” he said.

Galolhu-dhekunu MP Ahmed Mahloof said that laws are passed subsequent to debates on ways to rectify issues; however, if a law includes problems, it should be revised.

The Drug Court was established to issue orders to National Drug Agency on rehabilitation efforts for people who confess to abusing drugs.

Judges of the Drug Court receive a monthly salary of MVR45,000.

While it is true that laws can be revised, it is also important that experts are consulted before a law is passed.

We have heard complaints now for a long time, that Courts have a serious backlog of cases. It thus makes sense to establish a separate Court dedicated to drug-related cases, as it might even help expedite Criminal Court cases. It is time that we reconsider the Drug Act.