Government tightens penalties for drug-related offences

Penalties for drug-related offences will be tightened, and measures to protect children and young people will be strengthened. The Government has approved the necessary amendments to prevent and combat more effectively the illegal circulation of drugs and other narcotic substances.

This adjustment is important in the context of the growing share of synthetic drugs and the use of digital platforms for their distribution, as well as the involvement of criminal groups, including at cross‑border level.

According to the draft, the penalty for involving minors in drug-related offences will increase from 3–7 years to 5–8 years of imprisonment. At the same time, persons who have committed drug-related offences for the purpose of sale or distribution will no longer be able to avoid criminal liability.

The new provisions introduce criminal sanctions for the use of online platforms and communication applications in drug trafficking, with penalties ranging from 2 to 12 years of imprisonment, depending on the gravity of the offence. Previously, the law did not explicitly provide for sanctions for these acts.

The law will also include new psychoactive substances, ethnobotanical products and drug substitutes, in order to address emerging forms of trafficking and consumption. Penalties will be tightened for serious cases as well, including when minors are involved, when violence is used, or when organised criminal groups are active.

In addition, employees in the fields of health care, social assistance and education will have additional responsibilities for preventing drug use in the institutions where they work.

The draft also provides for modern control tools, including an electronic register that will allow the tracking of parcels and will reduce their use for transporting prohibited substances.

Through these amendments, the aim is to reduce drug circulation, discourage involvement in such offences, better protect children and other vulnerable persons, and provide more effective intervention tools to the competent institutions.

Between 2019 and 2025, state institutions have significantly intensified the actions in this area, with more than 7,000 offences and about 20,000 contraventions detected and investigated. The figures demonstrate both the increasing scale of the phenomenon and the improvement of identification and intervention mechanisms.