A law on "new psychoactive substances” has come into effect and it is now illegal to manufacture, purchase, store, sell and ship newly-restricted bio-drugs.
According to the new law, which was developed by the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs, trafficking of substances which belong to the class of criminalized chemical compounds, is now a criminal offence. The law on bio-drugs came into force yesterday.
The sentence for illegally manufacturing, producing, purchasing, storing, transporting, sending or selling, shipping into the country, exporting or transiting the psychoactive substances through Georgia can be anywhere up to five years imprisonment.
The Ministry stated the new law identified nine chemical compounds as illegal substances as well as some newly identified psychoactive substances that do not belong to these classes.
The Ministry have been working on amending the law to enforce a tougher stance against psychoactive drugs since November 2013. According to the Ministry's information, the law was based on the new approach of four countries – Austria, Cyprus, the United Kingdom and Switzerland.