Up to 10 Years in Prison for Promoting Drug Use Online in Russia
The State Duma has passed a bill in its third reading that introduces prison sentences of up to 10 years for promoting drug use on the internet. Now, Part 2 of Article 230 of the Russian Criminal Code will include a new aggravating factor: “using information and communication networks, including the internet.” According to the explanatory note, “the current criminal legislation lacks this specific aggravating factor.”
Additionally, a new Part 4 will be added to the article, which provides for imprisonment from 12 to 15 years if two or more people die as a result of being encouraged to use drugs.
Interestingly, the bill was developed by the State Duma Commission for Investigating Foreign Interference in Russia’s Internal Affairs. According to the explanatory note, the commission found “numerous cases of mass encouragement, using information and telecommunication networks (including the internet), of young, reproductive-age Russians to consume narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, or their analogues, as well as the promotion by representatives of foreign states-using the above-mentioned means-of the ideology of ‘safe’ drug use and the ‘harmlessness’ of opiate drugs for pregnant women.” The technical capabilities of the internet, the note says, allow criminals to “carry out their plans with minimal effort.”
According to State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, “every year, the number of criminals who, taking advantage of the anonymity of the internet, promote drug use, create demand, and post information on where to buy drugs is growing.” Volodin also named young people (often minors) as the main consumers of this information. He believes such punishment is appropriate for those “who involve young people in drug use and, in essence, kill them.”
However, as with, for example, the “promotion of suicide,” the authorities’ broad interpretation of these concepts arguably demonstrates an overly expansive view of their powers. Furthermore, Article 15.1 of the federal law “On Information, Information Technologies, and Information Protection” already prohibits the dissemination of information about methods and techniques for the illegal manufacture, storage, processing, production, sale, shipment, or transportation of drugs or new potentially dangerous psychoactive substances, as well as the cultivation, sale, transportation, or shipment of plants or their parts containing narcotic or psychotropic substances.
It’s also worth noting that in 2015, the UN Human Rights Council stated that the ability to use the internet anonymously and to encrypt personal data should be considered part of human rights. Anonymity, in itself, is a tool and cannot be considered an aggravating circumstance.
In December 2020, the President of Russia signed a law introducing administrative liability for promoting narcotic drugs online. This is punishable by a fine of up to 30,000 rubles for individuals and up to 100,000 rubles for officials. Telecom operators who fail to block such content will also face fines.