Synthetic drugs now captured in Guyana’s laws

─ as Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Amendment Bill passed

Persons found with synthetic drugs that were not before captured under Guyana’s laws, will now be charged and placed before the courts, as the National Assembly on Monday passed the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control Amendment) Bill No.2

Some of the new synthetic drugs according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime are; methamphetamine, non-medical use of ketamine, fentanyl, new ‘ecstasy’ and crystalline MDMA.

Presented by Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn, M.P, the Bill received the blessings of the Parliamentary Opposition.

“This is an intention to bring into the realm of law, the realm of prosecutorial offences to synthetics and all those other substances which are narcotics, psychotropic substances and stimulants which were previously not captured in our legislation,” Minister Benn noted.

Section two of the Principal Act has been amended by the insertion immediately after the definition of coca leaves, control substance analogue. This means, “a substance that is structurally chemically similar to the substances set out in the first schedule and second schedule and produces a stimulant, depressant, hallucinogenic effect on the central nervous system that is substantially comparable to or greater than the stimulant, depressant, hallucinogenic effect of the substances set out in the first and second schedule.”

The amendment further inserts, ‘control substance analogue’ under the definition of narcotics.

Supporting the Bill was Government Member of Parliament and Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson, who noted that the issue of synthetic drugs used by young people, is a worldwide phenomenon.

As all the new types of drugs will be captured under this Bill and possession and trafficking will attract penalties, Minister Ramson said the government is “looking out for the protection of young people of the country.”

He also lambasted the main opposition party in the House for failing to realise the importance of placing such a preventative measure against the rampant use of these drugs.

Meanwhile, all speakers in the opposition benches supported the amendment of the Bill, dubbing it necessary.