In a third statement released yesterday by Chega, the party reports on a meeting held with the Judiciary Police, focused on the “legal and operational weaknesses that compromise the effective fight against drug trafficking and consumption in the Region.”
According to the press release, Manuela Gonçalves and Hugo Nunes, both Chega deputies in the Legislative Assembly of Madeira, met with José Carlos de Matos, coordinator of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Judiciary Police in Madeira, and Laboratory of Drugs and Toxicology expert, João Sousa. The meeting was to discuss the proliferation of new psychoactive substances (NPS), many of which are slightly chemically modified to escape current criminal legislation.
“The need to amend the applicable Regional Legislative Decree was identified as a legislative priority, as well as to promote the repeal of the current national rule that establishes quantification limits to differentiate consumption from trafficking. This rule, in addition to being outdated, creates unjustifiable margins of maneouver for traffickers who exploit the quantity as a criminal shield, hindering the work of police forces and promoting the feeling of impunity,” said Hugo Nunes.
Among the proposed solutions is the urgent creation of a multidisciplinary team, composed of representatives of the security forces and criminal investigation teams; technicians and experts from the Laboratory of Drugs and Toxicology, judicial and public health authorities, members of the Regional Government, and members of the Legislative Assembly.
“This team’s mission would be to formulate an integrated, technically rigorous, and politically concerted legislative response, which will allow us to face the new challenges of trafficking and consumption of synthetic drugs, protecting citizens more effectively and reinforcing the role of the Autonomous Region in building concrete solutions,” stated Manuela Gonçalves (Chega).
During the meeting, “the need for a generic drug typification, which encompasses slight structural variations of molecules currently identified as illicit; the importance of the innovative work of the PJ Madeira Laboratory, which has identified new drugs in the national territory and implemented wastewater monitoring techniques to measure the real consumption in the population and the urgency of stopping the hidden liberalisation that results from the sale of psychoactive substances in smartshops, digital networks or directly, putting young people and the most vulnerable at permanent risk,” pointed out Hugo Nunes.
Concluding, Chega “reaffirms its commitment to firmer, more current and protective legislation of public health, which returns authority to the security forces and dignity to criminal policy in the Autonomous Region of Madeira.”
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
