President Aleksander Kwasniewski signed an amendment to the
anti-narcotics bill on Friday, including severe penalties - three years
imprisonment or detoxification - for possession of even a small amount
of drugs. "We have at last a very useful tool against petty drug
dealers. Courts will have to decide on the basis of evidence if a
suspect should be cured or imprisoned," said Pawel Biedziak, a
spokesperson from Warsaw police headquarters. "This is a propaganda
humbug, supposedly a tool against dealers, but the bill will have to be
amended within a year," said Freedom Union (UW) spokesman Andrzej
Potocki. (Rzeczpospolita, Nov. 18-19, pp. A1, A2)
