2005 NATIONAL REPORT (2004 data) TO THE EMCDDA by the Reitox National Focal Point BULGARIA New Development, Trends and in-depth information on selected issues REITOX Table of Contents PART A: NEW DEVELOPMENTS AND TRENDS..............................................................3 1. NATIONAL POLICIES AND CONTEXT ............................................................................ 3 2. Drug Use in the Population ................................................................................................. 15 3. Prevention ............................................................................................................................ 20 4. Problem Drug Use................................................................................................................ 23 5. DRUG RELATED TREATMENT...................................................................................... 26 6. HEALTH CORRELATES AND CONSEQUENCES ......................................................... 30 7. RESPONSES TO HEALTH CORRELATES AND CONSEQUENCES............................. 37 8. SOCIAL CORRELATES AND CONSEQUENCES ............................................................... 47 9. RESPONSES TO SOCIAL CORRELATES AND CONSEQUENCES ................................... 51 10. DRUG MARKETS................................................................................................................ 54 PART A: NEW DEVELOPMENTS AND TRENDS 1. NATIONAL POLICIES AND CONTEXT LEGAL FRAMEWORK Laws, regulations, directives and directions in the field of drug addictions and drugs (demand and supply) With a Decree 116 of the Council of Ministers from June 03, 2004 the Narcotic Substances and Precursors Control Act (NSPCA) was approved. This Act sets: o The organization, competencies, and tasks of the state bodies, which exercise the control over manufacturing, processing, trade, use, storage, import, export, transit, conveyance, carriage, and reporting of narcotic substances and precursors; o The measures to be taken against abuse and illicit traffic in narcotic substances and precursors; o The scientific research and expert activity related to narcotic substances and precursors. In 2004 by the initiative of the Ministry if Economics a project for Amendment and Supplement Act to the Narcotic Substances and Precursors Control Act (NSPCA) was prepared. The draft was approved by the Council of Ministers in December 2004 and introduced in the Parliament for consideration. The amendments improve the organisation and activities of the national drug Council, the Municipality drug Councils and the Preventive and Information Centres. The majority of the amendments, however, are pressed by the approved Ordinance on Drug Precursor Control. With the draft of the Act certain amendments are introduced and some texts are made more precise, especially the ones concerning the activities with narcotic substances and their control, made by the propositions of the Ministry of Health. Some of the main conditions in the bill are: • Complete correspondence with the European Legislation in the field of production and trade of the precursors of narcotic substances in the borders of the European Union. • Modifications are introduced in the principle of development of the Municipal Drug Councils in order to improve the coordination of the activities and their financing. • The legal capacities of the minister of Health are broadened regarding the control over the advertising. • The text concerning the preservation of minimal quantities of narcotic substances necessary in providing of first aid in case of emergency on board of airplanes and boats is made more precise. • The regiment concerning the carrying out of rehabilitation programmes for drug dependent persons is made more precise. In 2004 the Parliament approved Amendment and Supplement Act of the Penal Code (new SG 26/04) in which erases 354 (3) of the Penal Code, which liberated from any criminal responsibility the persons dependent on narcotic substances or their analogues when the quantity which they acquire, preserve, keep, or carry, is in quantities showing that its purpose is for use – one single dose. In support of the modification the following motifs were pointed out: - It is impossible to define at all the quantity of the single dose. The quantity of the single dose of narcotic substance is different in the various kinds of drugs. Besides that, the quantity depends on the weight, the sex, and the addiction of the individual; - With the liberation from punitive responsibility the use of drugs is legalised and the street traffic is stimulated, which by rule is realised by dependent persons through selling small quantities of drugs; - There is not an act in the European Law to define the conception of the single dose or quantity fro personal use; - Last, but not least, the misuse of the “single dose” on behalf of the drug dealers and their defence in the court also has a negative impact. As a whole the approved amendment aims at strengthening of the general prevention against dissemination of drugs on street level, combined with measures for compulsory treatment of dependent individuals accused in drug possession and keeping according to art. 92 of the Penal Code. Except the indicated changes in the legislation in order to bring in realization of the amendment of the NSPCA in 2004 are prepared and approved the following normative acts: Decree 256/Sept. 20, 2004 . for amendment and supplement of the Regulations for the Organisation and Activities of the National drug Council, accepted with a decree 10 of the Council of Ministers from 2001. The change takes place in Part IV – Municipal Drug Councils – concerning the provision and improvement of the activities of the Municipal drug Councils and the Preventive and Information Centres to them. Amendment and Supplement of the Ordinance for the conditions and order for issuing licences for activities with narcotic substances and their preparations from the Annexes of the NSPCA (new SG, 13/2005 .). The validity of the licences for activities such as production and wholesale trade changed from 1 to 3 years and for retail the licences are termless. Amendment and Supplement of the Ordinance for Permission of activities with limited quantities of narcotic substances for medical, scientific and educational purposes. (new SG, 76/2004 .). The control over these activities is confided upon the respective institutions – Ministry of Health, Ministry of economics, Ministry of Interior, Agency “Customs” from the Ministry of Finances. Regulations for preservation of small quantities of narcotic substances necessary in providing of first aid in case of emergency on board of airplanes and boats (new SG, 112 / 2004). The Regulations are issued on the foundations of art. 57 of NSPCA. Instruction for interactions of the specialised services on drugs in the ministry of Interior together with Ministry of Health in realisation of the control over the activities with narcotic substances and their preparations, used for medical purposes (new SG, 88/2004). Regulations for Control over the Precursors of the narcotic Substances (new SG, 50/2004). Sets forth the order and conditions for issuing licences for people, who engage in production, processing, use in other manufacture, maintaining, importing, exporting, re- exporting, and trade in the country with precursors; Law Enforcement With the approval by the XXXIX Parliament of the Republic of Bulgaria of the Amendment and Supplement Act of the Penal Code in significant extent was supported the activity of the institutions responsible for law enforcement and implementation of the state concerning assumed commitments on Chapter V “Justice and Internal Affairs” from the negotiations process for acceding of the country in the European Union. The serious danger that drugs traffic and dissemination cause on national, regional, and international level has been noted. Adequate measures are being taken to counteract the growing criminal activity, organised on the territory of Bulgaria by foreign and local criminal structures. The specialised services of the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Finances carry out their activity in a complicated and dynamical situation with stable trends in the trans-border traffic of drugs and precursors, in increase of demand and supply on the territory of the country. In 2004 concrete measures are taken related to the effective counteraction of the drugs dissemination, the illegal traffic, and, in more general sense, the law enforcement in the field of drugs. ♦ The analytical capacity for testing the narcotic substances was expanded. 4 new laboratories are founded and technically equipped for expert testing of narcotic substances in Blagoevgrad, Pleven, Vratsa, Jambol. At the present moment a total of eleven laboratories function in the country ♦ The training and education of the staff, participating in discovering and proving of narcotic substances and precursors, is improved. ♦ In a process of testing is new specialised software from the Ministry of Economics, which helps maintain the data base of system information of the registered and licensed manufacturers and merchants of precursors and basic chemicals. Data base of merchants, importers, manufacturers of chemical equipment is in a process of establishment. ♦ In 2004 successfully finished the participation of members of the staff of the National Service to Combat Organised Crime, the Agency “Customs”, and the Ministry of Economics