Under the Poisons, Opium And Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board has proposed to change the law that warrants death penalty for keeping two grams of heroin in possession.
Accordingly, it has proposed to increase the amount of drugs in possession to 10 grams in order to receive the death penalty.
The draft bill is to be presented to Parliament today (10).
Previously, keeping two grams of heroin in possession was punishable by death, 20 years of imprisonment and life imprisonment.
Accordingly, Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said the Parliament Standing Committee agreed to the proposal that cases with less than 10 grams should be submitted to the Magistrate’s Courts, those above 10 grams should be submitted to the High Court and the relevant bail request should be referred to the Court of Appeal.
The Advisory Committee in this regard was held in Parliament recently under the chairmanship of Justice Minister Rajapakshe and it was attended by Minister Ali Sabry and MPs Talatha Athukorala, Anupa Pasqual and Rauff Hakeem.
