A bill aims to soften the penalties that apply to addicts exploited by criminal organizations for drug trafficking.
The initiative, presented by legislator Marco Vinicio Redondo, from the Citizen Action Party (PAC), establishes a punishment of three to ten years in prison.
But it would apply if one or more of the following conditions were demonstrated:
-A condition of problematic use of psychoactive substances, extreme poverty or vulnerability that led to the person been used or exploited by a third party or a criminal organization.
-That the same condition has been used to force people to take drugs to prisons.
-That the person with the conditions already described plays a non-significant role in a criminal organization.
According to the proposal, if any of the above conditions are determined, the judge could impose any of the following penalties:
-Household arrest with permits for education, training, health, work or proven family obligations.
-House arrest with non-stigmatizing electronic devices or any other alternative penalty.
-Restorative justice can be applied to resolve the criminal conflict generated by the crime.
-Those who have exercised serious physical violence, used firearms or involved a minor in the crimes shall be excluded from the benefit.
The current penal legislation establishes penalties of eight to 15 years against those who distribute, trade, supply, manufacture or store drugs.
The legislator explained that the purpose of the project is to establish proportionality in the application of penalties in the sense that addicts exploited by criminal organizations cannot receive the same punishment as drug traffickers.