The Federal Supreme Court overturned a sentence that reduced the sentence for a psychotropic user from six months imprisonment to a fine of 5,000 dirhams, stating that it was not confirmed that the psychotropic substance used by the accused was intended for treatment, and decided to refer the case to the Court of Appeal for further consideration.
In detail, the Public Prosecution referred an accused to trial on charges of psychotropic use in other than legally authorized cases, demanding that he be punished.
The Federal Court of First Instance sentenced the defendant to six months' imprisonment for the charge against him, and then the Court of Appeal amended the ruling to punish the accused with a fine of 5,000 dirhams for the charge against him and bind him to judicial fees, but the Public Prosecution did not accept this judiciary and challenged him.
In its appeal, the Public Prosecution stated that the judgment erred in the application of the law, as it reduced the sentence for the accused and punished him with a fine instead of imprisonment, based on article 40, paragraph 2, of the Law on Combating Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances instead of article 40, paragraph 1 of the same law. Although there is no requirement to reduce the penalty stipulated by the law, namely that the abuse of psychotropic substance for the purpose of treatment or to have a prescription, adding that the ruling to the contrary and ruled to reduce the sentence and punish him with a fine instead of imprisonment without making sure that this condition is applied To be invalidated.
The Federal Supreme Court upheld this appeal, stating that the decision stipulated in Article 40 of Law No. 14 of 1995 on the Control of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances that: Any person who abuses in any way or possessed for the purpose of abuse shall be punished by imprisonment for a period of not less than six months and not more than two years. In any case other than the licensed cases, he shall personally use any narcotics or psychotropic substances stipulated in tables (3), (6), (7) and (8) attached to this law. About ten thousand dirhams.
If the acts stipulated in Clause (1) of this Article are committed for the purpose of treatment, and the materials used or personally used by the offender may be taken or used by prescription, the penalty shall be a fine not less than one thousand dirhams and not more than ten thousand dirhams; The offender shall be punished with the same penalty prescribed in the previous clause, if he takes the prescribed doses more than prescribed.
The court explained that the legislator stipulated to implement the text of article 40/2 of the above-mentioned law in its ruling that the articles used by the offender were for the purpose of treatment or that he had a medical prescription and that his judgment was firmly supported by the papers, noting that the appeal judgment had amended The sentence stipulated that the defendant's circumstances and the circumstances of the case stipulate that the defendant has medical prescriptions and reports issued by a hospital that he is sick and discharged him from similar medicines that came with the attached reports, which the court considers to apply Article 40/2 of Law No. 14 of 1995 on Combating Elmo Narcotics and psychotropic substances, without being confirmed, state that the psychotropic substance used (oxazepam) was intended for treatment and that it may be prescribed or not to adopt its judgment by amending the indictment from 40/1 to 40/2. It then adjusts the penalty to a fine, which flaws the judgment, which has led to a mistake in the application of the law that requires revocation and referral.