The possession of laughing gas, with the exception of the needs of the food industry, for agricultural and medical purposes, should be punished with up to five years in prison and a financial sanction. These are some of the proposals for legislative changes, which, together with a report, were voted unanimously by the temporary Commission for the establishment of existing problems with the distribution of nitrous oxide (laughing gas), narcotics, precursors or their analogues in Bulgaria and with the prevention, prophylaxis and treatment of the use of nitrous oxide (laughing gas), narcotics, precursors or their analogues. The distribution of laughing gas will also be punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to five thousand leva, the texts quoted by BTA also provide.
The proposals for changes to the Criminal Code will be submitted to the registry of the National Assembly tomorrow, Lachezar Ivanov, chairman of the commission, told journalists.
After these six months in which the commission has been working, today is the last meeting and in addition to the report, the commission is making legislative proposals with which to respond to society for all those events that we witnessed this summer - deaths after using laughing gas or drugs, said Ivanov. According to him, the legislative proposals may seem too strict to some, but we must “cut out all possibilities for the distribution of laughing gas“.
The administrative form and method of sanction should be removed from the Health Act so that judges cannot be tempted to give a lighter measure, and therefore we are transferring laughing gas and the sanctions to the Criminal Code, said Ivanov. So far, it has been very difficult to find the legal form to include nitrous oxide in the Penal Code because of the presumption that it is not a narcotic substance, he added.
The report that we will support mainly focuses on the topic of nitrous oxide, and we have paid less attention to drugs, precursors and analogues, said Elisaveta Belobradova from the parliamentary group (PG) of “We continue the change - Democratic Bulgaria“. According to her, the work on changing the legislation regarding drugs and precursors must continue. Drug use has increased, and the age of use has dropped to unprecedented levels, she pointed out.
From the PG of “BSP - United Left“ Ivan Ibrishimov expressed support for the commission's report.
It is not very right to increase the sanctions for parents, as proposed, said Tsvetan Predov from the PG of “Ima takvi narod“ and asked with whom this proposal was coordinated. Predov drew attention to the proposal to increase the sanctions for parents whose minor or underage children are unaccompanied outside after 10:00 p.m.
The Criminal Code contains a text indicating “who acquires and holds“, but if laughing gas is thrown, how is it proven. When we talk about penal changes, they should be based on criteria, on quantitative parameters, because it is not specified what "in particularly large amounts" means, said Hasan Ademov from the PG of the "Alliance for Rights and Freedoms".
The committee voted on the report with 10 votes "for", "against" or "abstentions".