PM Kvirikashvili: Govt Policy on Drug Trade to be ‘Firm, Inflexible”

Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili said at the government session yesterday that the state policy on drug trade would be “firm and inflexible.”

“The state should be humane to those, who suffer from this disease, but at the same time, the authorities need to be firm on drug trade; we need to send a clear message to drug dealers that we will never tolerate [their activities],” PM Kvirikashvili said.

The Prime Minister then noted that an inter-agency group under the Ministry of Justice would soon finalize its work on drug policy reform bill based on these two principles.

He also said that “regrettably, there were several cases, when we lost the lives of young people because of this misfortune,” and called on the government officials and public figures to launch a campaign against drug use.

Prime Minister Kvirikashvili’s statement follows the reports of at least five drug-related deaths over the past two weeks, which reignited the nearly year-long debate on Georgia’s drug policy reform, pitting conservative politicians with activists advocating more liberal drug policy.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)