|
THE NATIONAL CONGRESS,
CONSIDERING that the production, traffic in and consumption of
narcotics, psychotropic substances and other dangerous drugs cause
irreparable damage to Honduran society, especially among the youth,
whom our citizens know to hold the future destiny of our country in
its hands, since youth is the human element most likely to become
addicted to the consumption of enervating substances such as those
already mentioned;
CONSIDERING that the consumption of such drugs is the result of
clandestine activities that are carried out by individuals devoid
of finer feelings, without moral scruples and without heed for the
ways and means that they use on the fringe of the law to achieve
their nefarious purpose;
CONSIDERING that a lack of foresight in combating one of the
evils that is causing very great damage to the countries making up
the modern world, and the existence of laws and criminal procedures
that are not of sufficient scope for preventing the onset of the
danger, or for the prosecution and detentions of the alleged
offenders and the imposition of exemplary punishment upon those who
are the material or intellectual perpetrators of such serious
offences, are factors making it impossible to combat under equal
conditions these enemies of the human race who, furthermore, make
use of the plentiful profits from a disreputable trade in order to
cover up their complicity in it and thereby ensure their
impunity;
CONSIDERING that it is in the public interest and national
advantage to combat, using all legal ways and means available, the
proliferation of activities encouraging the production, traffic in
and consumption of drugs, such as those mentioned above, which
destroy the human personality;
CONSIDERING that one of the prime duties of the State is to
protect the health of its citizens and ensure the peace and
well-being of the Honduran family, and bearing in mind that under
the present circumstances one of the instruments with the most
probable efficiency that can be resorted to is the promulgation of
a law containing provisions which permit the prevention,
prosecution and punishment, with the highest degree of severity, of
those who, directly or indirectly, whether nationals or aliens,
commit the offences to which the Law refers.
THEREFORE DECREES THE FOLLOWING:
LAW GOVERNING THE ABUSE OF AND ILLICIT TRAFFIC IN DRUGS AND
PSYCHOTROPIC SUBSTANCES
The objective of this Law is to create and establish a system
for controlling, preventing, combating and punishing the
production, trafficking in, possession and illicit consumption of
drugs, narcotics and psychotropic substances, and the provisions of
it relate to public order and preferential application to other
national legal provisions that are relevant.
This Law imposes sanctions on illicit activities involving the
production, manufacture, marketing, licit use, possession of and
illicit trafficking in narcotics, psychotropic substances and
dangerous drugs and any other product which may be considered as
such by the scientific and technical authorities of the Secretariat
for Public Health, the World Health Organization and the
international conventions.
It is a matter for each legally-qualified judge responsible for
criminal matters within his jurisdiction to hear, judge and punish
for the offences contained in this Law, and he may call upon any
State body for assistance in the discharge of his duties.
Justices of the Peace who hear cases involving the offences
under this Law, which shall only apply to places where there is no
court of first instance, shall be obliged to send the files to the
relevant qualified judge within 15 days of initiation of the
proceedings, with details of the seizures and most important
statements.
The crews of aircraft, ships and boats which legally or
illegally enter the airspace or territorial waters of the State of
Honduras and which carry narcotics, psychotropic substances and
dangerous drugs, either processed or as raw material, without
authorization, shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the judge
qualified in criminal matters of the place where they land or
dock.
For the purposes of this Law, unless expressly indicated
otherwise, it is understood that:
- Amapola adormidera (opium poppy)
-
shall mean the plant of the species Papaver somniferum
L., excepting its seeds; the opium is extracted from its
fruit;
- Coca
-
shall mean a bush of the genus Erythroxylacene;
- Cocaine
-
shall mean a coca alkaloid;
- Marketing
-
shall mean any illicit commercial transaction, purchase, sale,
delivery, reception, import and export of narcotics and controlled
substances;
- Consumption
-
shall mean the occasional, periodic, habitual or permanent use
of controlled substances which contain the danger of
dependence;
- Cultivation
-
shall mean activity designed to create a plantation under the
terms described in paragraph 26;
- Physical
-
dependence shall mean the physiological habituation of the
organism which compels the person to consume drugs and which when
the administering of them is suspended causes physical and/or
corporeal disturbances (withdrawal syndrome);
- Mental
-
dependence shall mean the state in which a drug produces a
feeling of satisfaction and a mental drive demanding periodic
administration and continuation of it on account of the pleasure it
produces or to avoid indisposition;
- Distributor
-
shall mean a person who distributes a controlled substance;
- To distribute
-
shall mean to deliver a controlled substance by other than the
legal means;
- Dose
-
shall mean the minimum quantity of drug, narcotic or
psychotropic substance for immediate personal consumption, as
determined by the forensic experts;
- Drug
-
shall mean a simple or compound substance of natural or
synthetic origin capable of altering the health of human beings and
which is used for the preparation of medicaments and diagnostic
media. It is a substance or medical preparation with a stimulant,
depressant, narcotic or hallucinogenic effect;
- Hallucinogenic
-
drugs shall mean drugs belonging to this group which are
characterized by producing hallucinations in those consuming them;
although this is not their only property, it is the most marked and
dominating effect on the organism of consumers. The following stand
out as the hallucinogenic drugs most commonly used:
diethyllysergamide (LSD-15), peyote, mescaline and other similar
substances;
- Depressant
-
or stimulant drugs shall mean all those which contain any
quantity of barbituric acid or any of its salts; any barbituric
acid derivative which has a habit-forming capacity; any drug
containing any quantity of amphetamine or any of its optical
isomers; any amphetamine salt or any salt of an optical isomer of
amphetamine; or diethyllysergamide; these have the potential for
abuse, on account of their depressing or stimulating effect on the
central nervous system or of a hallucinogenic effect;
- Narcotic drugs
-
shall mean substances which produce drowsiness, muscular
relaxation and dulling of the senses; any of the following
substances, whether produced
directly or indirectly as extracts from substances of vegetable
origin independently by means of chemical synthesis or a
combination of extraction and chemical synthesis:
-
Opium, coca leaf and opiates;
-
Any compound, product, salt, derivative or preparation of opium,
coca leaf or opiates; and
-
Any substance or any compound, product, salt, derivative or
preparation of these which may be chemically identical to any of
the substances mentioned in subparagraphs (a) and (b) of this
paragraph, except that the words "narcotic drugs" do not include
decocainized coca leaf, or coca leaf extracts, if these extracts do
not contain cocaine or ecgonine;
- Delivery
-
or supply shall mean the transfer or supply of a controlled
substance between persons without legal justification for the
act;
- Narcotic
-
shall mean a narcotic substance which causes loss of
sensitivity;
- Manufacture
-
shall mean the process of extracting, preparation, processing,
manufacture, composition, refinement, transformation or conversion
by which to obtain controlled substances by any direct or indirect
method;
- Drug
-
dependence or addiction shall mean the physical and/or mental
state due to interaction between the human being and the natural or
synthetic drug, which is characterized by changes in behaviour and
other reactions due to the need and drive to ingest natural or
synthetic drugs in a continuous or periodic form with the object of
re-experiencing its effects and sometimes to avoid the
indisposition produced by deprivation of it;
- Hallucinogenic
-
groups shall mean: diethyllysergamide (LSD-25), peyote,
mescaline, psilocybine, psilocine, DMD (dimethyltryptamine), DET
(diethyl-tryptamine), MDA (methylene-dioxy-amphetamine), STP
(dimethoxymethamphetamine), THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and other
similar substances;
- Excitant
-
or stimulant groups shall mean: coca and its derivatives
(cocaine and cocaine hydrochloride), amphetamines, benzedrine,
dexedrine and other similar substances;
- Opiate groups
-
shall mean: morphine, heroin, codeine, papaverine and similar
substances in which opium plays a part, such as elixir of paregoric
and tincture of laudanum;
- Marijuana
-
shall mean all parts of the plant Cannabis sativa, either
the American or the Indian variety, whether still growing or not,
the seeds and the resin extracted from any part of the plant, and
any compound, product, salt, derivative, mixture or preparation
made from such a plant, its seeds or its resin;
- Opiate
-
shall mean any drug or other substance capable of creating
addiction or maintaining addiction in similar form to morphine or
likely to be converted into a drug possessing the aforesaid
capacity for creating or maintaining addiction;
- Poppy straw
-
shall mean all parts of the opium poppy plant, after it has been
dried, except for the seeds;
- Plantation
-
shall mean a plurality of plants, from which dependence-forming
drugs may be extracted;
- Possession
-
shall mean the illicit holding of controlled substances, raw
materials or seeds of plants from which controlled substances may
be extracted;
- Preparation
-
shall mean any solution or mixture in any physical state which
contains one or more controlled substances, or one or more
controlled substances made up into doses;
- Immediate precursor
-
shall mean the raw material or any other substance that is
unprocessed, half-processed, intended for processing or processed
which may be used for the preparation of controlled substances;
- Production
-
shall mean the sowing, planting, cultivation, growth, harvesting
and gathering of plants, seeds or vegetable matter containing
controlled substances;
- Psychotropic
-
shall mean a drug which affects the central nervous system
producing neurological, mental and/or physiological effects;
- Rehabilitation
-
shall mean the bio-psycho-social readaptation of the consumer
for his reintegration into the normal activity of society;
- Controlled substance
-
shall mean any dangerous substance, pharmaceutical, drug,
narcotic and psychotropic substance, either natural or synthetic,
controlled by the State; and
- Illicit trafficking
-
shall mean any act directed at or emerging from activities aimed
at producing, manufacturing, fraudulently possessing, holding as a
deposit or storing, transporting, delivering, supplying, buying,
selling, donating, introducing into the country, taking out of the
country and/or carrying out, under any heading, transactions with
controlled substances, and financing activities in violation of the
provisions of this Law or other legislation.
For the purposes of this Law, those substances specified in the
relevant international conventions, which the Republic of Honduras
is party to, or others which it may accede to in the future, as
well as those referred to in the Health Code and which appear in
the lists contained in the regulations governing the control of
narcotics and other dangerous drugs, and those which in the future
may be included in it, shall also be considered narcotics,
psychotropic substances and dangerous drugs, irrespective of their
presentation. Likewise considered as such shall be those drugs,
preparations and pharmaceutical specialities contained in the
official lists of the Ministry of Public Health and the World
Health Organization, the consumption of which produces dependence,
stimulation or depression of the central nervous system,
hallucinations, and disturbances of the motor function, faculty of
judgement, behaviour, perception or state of mind.
The sowing, cultivation, production, collection, harvesting and
use of plants of the genera: opium poppy ( Papaver somniferum
L.), marijuana ( Cannabis sativa, Indian and American
variety), coca bush ( Erythroxylon novogranatense Morris),
hallucinogenic plants such as peyote ( Psilocvbine mexicana)
and other plants and parts of plants that contain substances
considered as narcotics and controlled substances shall be
prohibited throughout national territory.
The production, manufacture, extraction, synthesis, processing
and fractionation of narcotics and controlled substances shall be
prohibited with the exceptions established by law.
The production, manufacture, refinement, transformation,
extraction, preparation or any other operations for treating the
substances referred to by this Law shall be subject to the
authorization and control of the Secretariat of State for Public
Health.
Similarly, laboratories which are designed to manufacture drugs
and medicaments producing physical or mental dependence, or both at
the same time, shall request the relevant authorization in writing
from the Secretariat of State, with due mention of the quantity,
content and nature of what their production will be.
The Secretariat of State for Public Health may in exceptional
cases authorize the National Autonomous University of Honduras to
conduct those activities that are in the general sense prohibited
in articles 8 and 9 of this Law.
Every person is prohibited from keeping in his possession, or in
his clothing or baggage, at his house, place of work, in his car or
at any other place under his responsibility, without legal
authorization, any quantity of narcotic or controlled
substances.
The purchase, import, export and marketing of narcotics and
controlled substances shall be subject to authorization, which may
only be granted by the Secretariat of State for Public Health.
Medicaments which contain narcotics or controlled substances may be
sold to the public only by medical prescription at authorized
pharmacies; the prohibition covers free medical samples containing
controlled substances, which are subject to registration by the
mentioned Secretariat of State for entry into, distribution within
or exit from the country.
Doctors, dentists and veterinary surgeons may possess up to two
ampoules of controlled drugs in their surgical bags.
The following chemical, basic and essential substances shall be
considered inputs for the manufacture of controlled substances, for
which reason the health and customs authorities shall exercise
control over their entry into, distribution within, use and exit
from the country:
-
Anthranilic acid and N acetyl anthranilic acid, used to make
methaqualone;
-
Phenyl-2-propanone and phenylacetic acid, used to make
amphetamine and methamphetamine;
-
Piperidine, used to make phencyclidine (PCP);
-
The alkaloids of rye ergot, ergotamine and ergonovine, used to
make diethyllysergamide (LSD);
-
Acetone, used for the extraction, synthesis and processing of
heroin and cocaine;
-
Ethyl ether, used for the synthesis of heroin and cocaine,
acetic anhydride, used to make heroin; and
-
Acetyl chloride, used to make heroin and other chemical, basic
and essential substances for the preparation of drugs.
Cases not provided for in this Chapter shall be regulated by the
Health Code, Law governing pharmacies and the Regulations for the
Control of Narcotics and other Dangerous Drugs.
Any person who illicitly sows, plants, cultivates or harvests
narcotic plants or parts of plants of those mentioned in article 7
of this Law shall be imprisoned for 9 to 12 years and shall pay a
fine of 5,000-25,000 lempiras.
Whoever illicitly manufactures drugs, narcotics or controlled
substances that produce addiction shall be punished by 9 to 15
years' imprisonment and shall pay a fine of 50,000-100,000
lempiras.
Whoever trafficks in drugs, narcotics or controlled substances
shall be punished by 15 to 20 years' imprisonment and pay a fine of
1-5 million lempiras.
Whoever finances or perpetrates any other preparatory act
leading to the commission of the acts mentioned in articles 16, 17
and 18 above shall be imprisoned for a period of 15 to 20 years and
pay a fine of 1-5 million lempiras, according to the gravity of the
offence.
Whoever induces another person to abuse drugs, narcotics or
controlled substances shall be imprisoned for 9 to 12 years and pay
a fine of 50,000-100,000 lempiras. If the inducement is based on
exploitation of the condition of influence or authority over the
victim, or if the latter is a minor or disabled person, or if the
offence is committed in an educational, public health, military,
police or penal establishment, or in the neighbourhood of such, the
term of imprisonment shall be increased by one third to two thirds
and the fine shall not be less than 200,000 lempiras.
Anyone who instigates or incites another to commit any of the
offences listed in this Chapter shall be imprisoned for 9 to 12
years and pay a fine of 50,000-100,000 lempiras.
A penalty of 6 to 9 years' imprisonment and a fine of
50,000-100,000 lempiras shall be imposed on anyone who knowingly
provides the premises or means of transport, even if free of
charge, for the traffic in and illicit consumption of narcotics,
psychotropic substances and other dangerous drugs.
Any person who wittingly, either himself or through an
intermediary, whether a physical or legal person, engages, together
with other persons or with a commercial or other type of
establishment, in dealings of any type, or provides false
information for the opening of accounts or for the conduct of
transactions of the same type, with money originating from the
activities of illicit traffic in controlled drugs, shall be
imprisoned as an accomplice for a period of 3 to 6 years and shall
pay a fine of 50,000-100,000 lempiras.
The same penalty shall be imposed upon anyone who after the
commission of an offence involving illicit drug trafficking,
without having taken part in it, conceals, acquires or receives
money, assets or objects originating from the illicit traffic in
drugs or participates in any other manner in their acquisition,
receipt or concealment.
If the accomplice in the activities relating to money and assets
originating from illicit drug trafficking should be the chairman or
owner/administrator of a trading company or other organization,
whether it has a legal personality or not, in addition to the
penalty
imposed upon the natural person mentioned in the first paragraph
of this article, the establishment shall be closed down
definitively and irrevocably and the trading or social organization
shall be punished by a fine of 100,000-500,000 lempiras.
Whoever holds in his possession for illicit purposes chemical,
basic and essential substances, or inputs for the production of
addictive drugs, shall be imprisoned for 3 to 6 years and pay a
fine of 20,000-50,000 lempiras.
Public officials and employees, members of the Armed Forces,
police forces and State security establishments, and persons
working for the public authority, by election or appointment, who
take direct part in, or who facilitate by abuse of office, the
commission of criminal acts envisaged by this Law shall be subject
to the corresponding penalty, increased by one third, and to total
removal from office.
Any person caught in possession of marijuana cigarettes or their
equivalent in the form of dry leaf or basic paste or any other
addictive drug in a minimal quantity such that, in accordance with
a report of the Department of Forensic Medicine, of the
Legislature, or of the State-employed doctor, failing the former,
it may be considered to be for his immediate personal consumption,
shall be subject to the following security measures:
-
(a) The first time, internment up to 30 days and a fine of
500-1,000 lempiras;
-
(b) The second time, internment from 30 to 90 days and a fine of
1,000-5,000 lempiras; and
-
(c) If he is a drug addict, he shall be interned in a
rehabilitation centre until he has been socially reintegrated; this
measure shall be applied even when it is the first time. The same
measure shall be imposed upon persons who, without being drug
addicts, relapse for the third time, together with a fine of
5,000-10,000 lempiras.
In cases in which the possession or holding exceeds the minimal
quantity considered to be for immediate personal consumption, it
shall be understood to be a violation of article 18 of this
Law.
Aliens who fall under the above article shall be sanctioned by a
fine of 5,000-10,000 lempiras and shall be deported.
When two or more persons join forces for the commission of the
offences established by this Law, they shall be sanctioned with an
additional third of the basic penalty.
Any persons who in the commission of an offence established in
this Law or when resisting authority makes use of any type of
weapon shall suffer the penalty increased by one third.
Subject to seizure shall be real estate or personal property,
chemical, basic and essential substances as well as the immediate
precursors, equipment, plants, laboratories, weapons, money and
assets, vehicles and any other means which has been used to
prepare, process, manufacture, store, conserve, traffick in and
convey illicit drugs; properties subject to seizure shall be placed
at the disposal of the State of Honduras.
Exempt are commercial air, land or sea craft in which drugs are
found in luggage that is the exclusive responsibility of the
passenger. However, craft carrying cargo, or passengers
commissioned to carry cargo shall require a sworn declaration of
its contents.
The Secretariat of State for Public Education shall incorporate
into its primary, secondary, technical and vocational school
programmes contents and activities that aim to prevent drug
addiction and provide information on the risks of drug
addiction.
The communication media of the country shall conduct campaigns
to combat the production, traffic in and consumption of drugs,
narcotics and psychotropic substances; the contents, duration and
frequency of the campaigns shall be determined by joint agreement
between the Honduran Institute for the Prevention and Treatment of
Alcoholism, Drug Addiction and Drug Dependence and the
communication media.
Any form of publication, publicity, propaganda or programmes via
the communication media that contain stimulants and subliminal
messages, whether auditory, printed or audio-visual, favouring the
production, illicit traffic in and consumption of drugs and
controlled substances is prohibited.
The Supreme Court of Justice shall put into effect training
programmes for judges, the Office of the Public Prosecutor and the
police in matters relating to strategies for prevention or
intervention aimed at countering the problem of drug
dependence.
Criminal proceedings for the sowing, production, manufacture,
traffic in, financing and possession of drugs, narcotics and
psychotropic substances, as well as for the inducement,
instigation, provision of premises and means of transport, and
complicity in concealment of the origin of money coming from drug
trafficking operations in order to legitimize its subsequent use,
shall be those indicated by the Penal Code for offences which give
grounds for public action.
Real estate and personal property used for illicit trafficking
in drugs and those acquired with funds from such trafficking, once
these points have been proved in the course of criminal
proceedings, shall be publicly auctioned by the State of Honduras.
The product of the auction and the money confiscated, including
bank accounts, securities, other funds and the fines shall be paid
into the General Treasury of the Republic and used for prevention,
education and health programmes and for the establishment of
rehabilitation centres.
Extradition for drug trafficking offences shall be subject to
the provisions of Article 10 of the Penal Code and the extradition
treaties signed by the State of Honduras.
Crops consisting of plants from which addictive drugs can be
extracted as well as drugs seized when this Law is violated shall
be destroyed in the presence of the competent judge, a ministry
inspector, and representatives of the Department for Drug Control,
the Secretariat of State for Public Health, the Public Security
Police, the Honduran Institute for the Prevention and Treatment of
Alcoholism, Drug Addiction and Drug Dependence, and the press and
public at large. Their destruction shall be carried out under the
jurisdiction of the court or tribunal which heard the case; prior
to destruction the quantity, quality and grade of purity of them
shall be analysed and tested; a document shall be drawn up and
signed by the representatives of the institutions mentioned, with
the signatures being endorsed by the Secretary for Competent Court
Proceedings, and each of the former receiving a copy of the
document.
The Honduran Institute for the Prevention and Treatment of
Alcoholism, Drug Addiction and Drug Dependence is the body in
charge of drawing up governmental programmes and coordinating all
the activities and programmes of the private sector for the study,
prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of the physical and mental
dependence of consumers of drugs and controlled substances.
The rehabilitation of the convicted party shall be subject to
the provisions of the Law governing the Rehabilitation of
Offenders.
The penal, civil, and administrative liability devolving from
infractions of this Law are prescribed in the following manner:
-
(a) For offences permitting bail in conformity with the Code of
Criminal Procedure, 15 years after committing the offence; and
-
(b) For offences for which there is no bail in conformity with
the Code of Criminal Procedure, 20 years after the offence has been
committed.
The Executive shall issue the regulations governing this Law
within 90 days.
This Law repeals Decree Law No. 613 of 17 March 1978, and its
amendment as contained in Decree No. 1048 of 15 July 1980, and any
other laws and provisions that run counter to them and in all
pertinent matters shall be applicable to the Penal Code and Code of
Criminal Procedure in Force.
The Law shall enter into force 20 days after its publication in
the Official Gazette
Done in the City of Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central
District, in the meeting hall of the National Congress, on the
fifth day of September, nineteen hundred and eighty-nine.
( Signed) Carlos Orbin Montoya,
President
Oscar Armando Melara Murillo,
Secretary
Luis Antonio Ortez Turcios,
Secretary
To the Executive for Implementation
Tegucigalpa, D.C., 8 September 1989
José Simon Azcona Hoyo,
President
Secretary of State for Internal
Affairs and Justice
Enrique Ortez Colindres,
|
