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JusMin Gorghiu: I propose creating a register of drug trafficking offenders
Justice Minister Alina Gorghiu of the National Liberal Party (PNL) on Monday announced having suggested a register of drug trafficking offenders patterned on the register of sexual offenders, adding that the new register will represent a means of knowledge, of identification, operative supervision of persons who have committed crimes in this area, told Agerpres.
She explained that these data can be quickly transmitted to all police stations and all other law enforcement agencies.
Gorghiu said that she sent this proposal to the PNL lawmakers and it is open to the opinion of other lawmakers and civil society leaders.
She presented a statistic of drug trafficking and drug-taking , which represents a "major problem," noting that these are topics that are infrequently discussed.
"Today, because of some tragedies, we are discussing this problem seriously and I think it is possible to be even more serious. (...) This problem was raised by the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, at the Supreme Council for National Defence (CSAT) level and I am glad that this topic has the importance it deserves, in the debates at the highest level of discussion, on issues related to national security.(...) The report of the National Anti-Drug Agency ( ANA) for the year 2022, which was published in February 2023, says that 10.7% of those aged between 15 and 64 have taken at least one type of illicit drug in their lifetime. This means, taking into account the data from the Nationals Institute of Statistics (INS) that there are almost 15 million people in the age group 15 to 64 years, more precisely 14,769,705, then we can easily draw the conclusion that n 2021 (...) there were 1,600,000."
According to the minister, the number is not the real one, because there are some drug-takers who do not disclose that.
She added that also based on the ANA report, the age of drug-takers went down to 12 years for psychoactive substances and to 13 years for cannabis and ecstasy.
According to the minister, the most commonly taken drug nationwide is cannabis, "the most trafficked and taken drug in recent years in Romania."
She added that in the first six months of 2023, 360 people were definitively sentenced for drug trafficking offences, and 135 people are added in other files in which domestic and international trafficking is secondary crime. "In all, there were 495 convicts in the first six months of 2023," added Gorghiu.
