In February 2016, a 23-year-old musician and DJ, Kote Japaridze and two of his friends acquired two grams of MDMA, a recreational synthetic drug that acts as a stimulant and hallucinogen, producing distortions in time and perception. Two grams was enough for 10 doses, and they were planning to take it to celebrate a friend’s birthday and continue the party in a nightclub. Police arrested Japaridze, together with one of the two friends, the same afternoon, before they could consume the drug. Police jailed him and charged him with possession of a particularly large quantity of drugs, punishable by eight to 20 years in prison. “I had no idea I was committing a particularly grave crime, we just wanted to have a good time,” Japaridze explained to Human Rights Watch. The only way to mitigate the inevitably harsh punishment was to enter a plea bargain with the prosecutor’s office, which Japaridze did, and a court sentenced him to six years in prison, five of which were suspended. The court also imposed a fine of 25,000 Georgian lari (GEL) (roughly US$10,800).

After six months in prison, Japaridze was released under a presidential pardon. But to this day he continues to face the consequences of his criminal record. As a drug offender, Japaridze was automatically stripped of his driver’s license and is banned from working in certain jobs for five years. The fine was exorbitant for his family of three. They had to get a loan, which Japaridze is still paying off. “This is all so unjust. I have not committed a dangerous or violent crime and I had no prior criminal record. The drugs I bought were for personal use, and yet I am paying dearly for it.”

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Police arrested 30-year-old Vano Machavariani in 2012, a day before his wedding. In fact, Machavariani was on his way to his own bachelor party when police stopped him and seized two doses of the hallucinogenic drug LSD, 0.00172 grams, from him. The seized amount was qualified as particularly large, and a court sentenced Machavariani to nine-and-a-half years in prison. His engagement fell apart and Machavariani spent five years in prison before he was released by presidential pardon in October 2017. Machavariani possessed a small quantity of drugs for personal use, but in Georgia, it is not unusual for people like Machavariani to be punished by grave criminal penalties.

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These are but two examples of Georgia’s harsh drug laws and policies, which prioritize criminal justice over a public health approach. In efforts to fight the use and sale of illicit drugs, Georgian authorities aggressively pursue drug prosecutions, which often lead to long sentences and prohibitive fines against individuals who have committed no harm to anyone, but who simply acquired small amounts of drugs for personal recreational use.

Although there is no official data, surveys in Georgia by experts show a growing number of injection drug users.

Although the Georgian government has partially liberalized its drug policies since 2012, they remain harsh. The criminal justice system continues to treat most drug consumption or possession for personal use as a criminal felony, with severe consequences. This report describes the human costs of these policies. It documents the impact of overly punitive drug laws and practices, including disproportionately harsh prison sentences and fines, abusive, mandatory drug tests, coerced plea bargains, and arbitrary limitations on rights, such as obtaining a driver’s license or working in various professions.

The report is based on over 85 in-depth interviews with individuals who have been prosecuted for drug-related crimes, their lawyers and family members, as well as social workers, community organization leaders, government officials, and various advocacy groups and nongovernmental organizations from May 2016 to June 2018.

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In Georgia, first-time illegal drug consumption or possession of a small quantity of drugs for personal use is a misdemeanor offense. A repeated offense within a year of the first results in criminal liability. However, for approximately three-quarters of substances classified as illicit drugs, including substances commonly used in Georgia, such as amphetamine, methamphetamine, and desomorphine, Georgian law does not establish a threshold for small quantities, which means that possession of even particles of those substances, including the residue of such substances in paraphernalia, automatically qualifies as a large amount, triggering criminal liability and a mandatory minimum five-year prison sentence. Possession of more than one gram of those same substances is considered a “particularly large amount” and could result in life imprisonment.

In some circumstances, drug possession for personal consumption can carry a longer prison sentence than murder (from seven to 15 years), or rape (six to eight years).

Every year, police randomly detain thousands of people for coerced drug testing. Police have broad powers to stop individuals in the streets and compel them to undergo drug testing, if there are “sufficient grounds,” including police intelligence, for assuming they are under the influence of drugs. If the person refuses to undergo the test, police can detain them for up to 12 hours in a forensics lab. Georgian law does not provide people held for testing the same rights as detainees, such as the right to make a phone call, even though they are in police detention. This leaves them vulnerable to ill-treatment by police. People whose drug use is problematic and former drug offenders are especially vulnerable to serial, coerced drug testing.

Georgian law imposes long, mandatory minimum sentences for drug-related offenses, and there is a nearly 100 percent conviction rate for these offenses. As a result, a person charged with a drug-related offense often feels there is no other choice than to agree to a plea deal to avoid long prison terms. Plea bargaining in drug-related offenses often leads not only to prison sentences but also to prohibitive fines, which can financially devastate the accused and his or her family.

Drug felony convictions also lead to deprivation of the right to operate motor vehicles and to work in certain professions for periods ranging to from three to 20 years after release from prison. Such restrictions deprive many of their livelihoods and contribute to further stigmatization and isolation of people who use drugs in Georgia.

From “Zero Tolerance” to Partial Liberalization

Some of the harsher features of Georgia’s current drug policies and practices were adopted in 2006, when then-President Mikheil Saakashvili announced a “zero tolerance policy” towards all crime, including drug-related offenses.

This “tough on crime” approach towards drug users may have led to a reduction of the availability of certain illicit drugs, such as heroin, but did not lead to a decrease in drug use. On the contrary, according to some estimates, the number of people dependent on drugs and at high risk of harm due to drug use grew from 40,000 in 2009 to 52,500 in 2017.

After the change of government in October 2012, Georgia’s new leadership recognized the need to liberalize criminal justice policy, including drug policies. Legislative amendments reduced criminal penalties for drug possession and consumption. The government adopted a National Strategy and Action Plan to fight drug addiction, which emphasized the importance of public health, prevention of drug use, harm reduction programs, and overcoming stigma and discrimination against drug users. However, while the strategy and its action plan envisage many significant steps, little of it has been implemented.

Since 2015, there have been further, significant changes in law enforcement policy and practices towards liberalization. Most were prompted by lawsuits filed with the constitutional court. In response to a 2015 constitutional court decision declaring imprisonment for marijuana possession unconstitutional, parliament amended legislation in July 2017 to remove imprisonment as a penalty for up to 70 grams of cannabis possession. The amended law retained criminal liability for possession of over five grams of cannabis.[1] All people convicted for cannabis possession would still have a criminal record and be deprived of the right to operate a motor vehicle and work in a wide range of jobs.

The 2015 decision prompted other constitutional complaints that challenged current criminal drug policies, particularly regarding recreational drug use. A November 2017 constitutional court decision argued that it is within an individual’s right to choose how to relax, including through marijuana consumption. According to the court, unless this action creates any relevant risk or danger to another person, it should not be considered a crime. Building on this decision, in July 2018, the constitutional court issued another ruling, abolishing all administrative sanctions for marijuana consumption, but it did not deliberate on the issues of purchase or possession of marijuana, which are regulated under the criminal code.

In June 2017, several members of parliament introduced a comprehensive draft law that would decriminalize personal drug use. The draft was developed by Georgia’s National Drug Policy Platform, a broad coalition of nongovernmental groups, experts, and activists. The draft law is grounded in a health-oriented approach that explicitly states that people with problematic drug use need support, not incarceration and stigmatization.

The draft stalled in parliament after just one committee hearing, and the government appears to have halted any plans for further substantial drug policy reform.

A Call for Decriminalization

Laws criminalizing drug use are inconsistent with respect for human autonomy and the right to privacy and contravene the human rights principle of proportionality in punishment. In practice, criminalizing drug use interferes with the right to health of those who use drugs. The harms experienced by people who use drugs, and by their families and broader communities, as a result of the enforcement of these laws may constitute additional, separate human rights violations.

Criminalization has yielded few, if any, benefits. Criminalizing drugs is not an effective public safety policy. Human Rights Watch is aware of no empirical evidence that low-level drug possession defendants would otherwise go on to commit violent crimes. And states have other tools at their disposal to address any harmful behaviors that may accompany drug use.

Criminalization is also a counterproductive public health strategy. In fact, rates of drug use have been increasing over the past decade, despite widespread criminalization. For people who struggle with drug dependence, criminalization often means cycling in and out of jail or prison, with little to no access to voluntary treatment. Criminalization undermines the right to health, as fear of law enforcement can drive people who use drugs underground, deterring them from accessing health services and emergency medicine and leading to illness and sometimes fatal overdose.

It is time for Georgia to rethink the criminalization paradigm. Although the amount cannot be quantified, the enormous resources spent in order to identify, arrest, prosecute, sentence, incarcerate, and supervise people whose only offense has been possession of drugs is hardly money well spent, and it has caused more harm than good.

Ending criminalization of simple drug possession does not mean turning a blind eye to the harm that drug dependence can cause in the lives of those who use, and of their families. On the contrary, it requires a more direct focus on effective measures to prevent problematic drug use, reduce the harms associated with it, and support those who struggle with dependence. Ultimately, the criminal law does not achieve these important ends, and causes additional harm and loss instead. It is time for Georgia to rethink its approach to drug use.

Report by Human Rights Watch