Acts involving the production, provision, trade and trafficking of drugs constitute very serious crimes. They are therefore at risk of severe sanctions provided for in the relevant regulations and vigorously prosecuted by the competent state authorities.
So if you have had the misfortune of committing this type of behavior – read this article carefully to understand what consequences you may face as a result.
In this blog post you’ll learn:
- What is the crime of drug production?
- What are the consequences of drug production?
- What is the crime of drug provision?
- What are the consequences of drug provision?
- What is the crime of drug trading?
- What are the consequences of placing drugs on the market?
- What is the crime of drug trafficking?
- What are the consequences of drug trafficking?
- Provision, trade and trafficking of drugs within an organized crime group – what is the liability in this respect?
If you want to know what “drugs” actually are, as well as what the rules of responsibility and penalties for their possession and use are, check out my article entitled. „Possessing and using drugs – what are the consequences??”.
What is the crime of drug production?
Drug production may involve three groups of activities, namely:
- drug production,
- drug processing,
- drug working-up.
To explain their meaning, it is necessary to refer to the definitions contained in the Act of 29 July 2005 on counteracting drug addiction.
According to it, drug production involves performing activities that can be used to obtain:
- narcotic drugs,
- psychotropic substances,
- precursors,
- substitute drugs, or
- new psychoactive substances.
It further involves their purification, raw material and semi-finished product extraction, as well as obtaining salts of these agents or substances.
In turn, drug processing means activities leading to the transformation of indicated preparations into other narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, precursors or new psychoactive substances, or into substances that are not psychoactive substances.
Drug working-up means obtaining mixtures of the above drugs or substances and giving them a new form.
So many statutory definitions, but what are the differences between these concepts?
First of all, a feature of production is that as a result of the activities undertaken by the perpetrator, a new substance with the characteristics of a drug is obtained, as specified in the provisions of the Act on Counteracting Drug Addiction and other legal acts, or a substance of this type with other, improved properties (characteristics). This is what distinguishes production from processing and working-up. In the case of processing and working-up, the initial product is already a narcotic drug with significantly different characteristics than the product obtained as a result of these processes.
A specific “variety” of drug production is the illegal cultivation of poppy, hemp and coca bushes. The cultivation of these plants is a complete set of procedures in plant production, including sowing, planting and their care until harvesting. This cultivation includes any such activity, regardless of its area.
You must know that the crime of drug production can only be committed intentionally. It may take the form of both direct and conceivable intent. In the first case, the perpetrator must want to commit a crime, and in the second case, when taking his/her action, he must foresee that it may constitute a prohibited act and agree to it. Only in the case of its aggravated form it can only be a direct intent, as described below…
What are the consequences of drug production?
Sanctions for engaging in drug production are specified in Article 53 of the Act on Counteracting Drug Addiction. According to the Article, a person who, contrary to the provisions of the Act, produces, processes or works up narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances or processes poppy straw, shall be subject to the penalty of imprisonment for up to three years.
If you commit those acts in relation to new psychoactive substances, you will be subject to a fine, restriction of liberty or imprisonment to the same extent.
You can read about the fine and restriction of liberty in the event of violating the provisions of the above-mentioned act in the article entitled. „Possessing and using drugs – what are the consequences?”.
The crime described has an aggravated form, which causes intensification of criminal repression.
Thus, if your act involved the production of a significant amount of drugs or you committed it in order to obtain financial or personal gain, then you will be subject to sanctions in the form of a fine and imprisonment from three to twenty years.
It is assumed that a “significant amount” of drugs means such an amount that is able to meet the needs of several dozen addicted people. It should be noted that, for example, one active dose of marijuana is approximately 0.5 g, and of amphetamine – 0.1 g.
A financial benefit is the creation of property for oneself or another person or the avoidance of loss. It is therefore any good that meets a specific need and whose value can be expressed in money. It always has a material (property) form.
A personal benefit is a benefit of an intangible (non-material) nature. It improves the situation of the recipient or another person, for example by getting a promotion or getting a job.
Penalization of illegal cultivation of poppy, hemp and coca bushes is included in Article 63 of the Act on Counteracting Drug Addiction. A person who commits this may be sentenced to imprisonment for up to three years. If the subject of such an act is a crop that can provide a significant amount of poppy straw, coca leaves, resin or hemp herb (except fibrous hemp), as the perpetrator you will be liable to imprisonment from six months to eight years.
Now that you know what the crime of drug production is and what the penalties are, I can explain to you…
What is the crime of drug provision?
Pursuant to the Act on Counteracting Drug Addiction, the crime of provision of drugs may take three forms and consist in:
- providing another person with a narcotic drug, a psychotropic substance or a new psychoactive substance,
- facilitating or enabling their use or
- inducing the use of such an agent or substance.
Distribution should be understood as giving, delivering, offering, giving, making available or lending. This may occur even without the consent and knowledge of the person for whom it was done. It comes down to the act of transferring the mentioned means or substances. It may also take the form of simply leaving them in a place previously agreed with the recipient. It should also be added that the “distribution” must be made free of charge, otherwise the perpetrator will be liable for the aggravated type of crime, which I discuss later in the article.
Facilitating means helping to achieve a given goal and making something easier. It involves removing existing obstacles to the use of the drug and creating appropriate conditions for another person to consume it.
Enabling, on the other hand, means making something possible, creating conditions favorable to something, and contributing to something. Thus, it involves creating conditions for drug use in a situation in which it could not occur without the perpetrator’s help.
The concept of incitement means influencing someone’s decision, persuading, persuading, encouraging and encouraging someone to act in a certain way. It comes down to making the recipient intend to use the drug.
For the occurrence of the discussed crime, it does not matter whether the person who was given the drug actually uses it, or whether such a situation results in endangering his/her life or health. It takes place when the recipient has the opportunity to take possession of the product or substance.
The above-mentioned acts can only be committed intentionally, both with direct and conceivable intent. However, in the case of incitement, the perpetrator must act only in the first form of the prohibited act.
What are the consequences of drug provision?
If you have committed a crime of drug provision, you must prepare to face severe criminal reprisals.
Pursuant to Article 58 section 1 of the Act on Counteracting Drug Addiction – you will be liable to imprisonment for up to three years.
Farther-reaching sanctions are provided for if you have given a narcotic drug, a psychotropic substance or a new psychoactive substance to a minor, you have induced him to use such a drug or substance, or you have given them in significant amounts to another person. In this case, you will be liable to imprisonment from six months to eight years.
You may face even worse consequences if you have committed the crime described in its aggravated form. It occurs when you acted in order to achieve financial or personal gain. Such conduct on your part is punishable by imprisonment from one to ten years. If you acted with such intention towards a minor, you will be liable to imprisonment from three to twenty years.
You will be exposed to a lesser penalty if your act had a form of lesser gravity – it amounts to a fine, restriction of liberty or imprisonment for up to two years.
I wrote about what constitutes a lesser gravity of a prohibited act in the previously linked article.
What is the crime of drug trade?
Pursuant to the Act on Counteracting Drug Addiction, placing on the market means making narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, precursors, substitutes or new psychoactive substances available to third parties. This may be done for a fee or free of charge. The essence of this crime is that the recipient (buyer) is not a consumer. In this case, we would be dealing with the provision of drugs described above. In the case of placing on the market, the transaction takes place between the manufacturer (or wholesaler) and another wholesaler, i.e. the person who further resells the drug to a dealer, and not directly to the consumer.
Mere participation in drug trade is also punishable. It consists in their acceptance for payment or free of charge by a person who is not a consumer for the purpose of later transferring them to another person, and the buyer is also not a consumer in such a case.
There is no requirement for an effect to occur for this offense to occur. It is realized through the very fact of participating in a specific drug transaction, regardless of whether it was completed or not. It may involve giving or receiving drugs from other people, as well as storing them, warehousing them or taking them from a storage place.
It should be noted that placing drugs on the market is an active form of drug trade, while participation in the trade is its passive form. The former involves transferring drugs to a person who is not a consumer, while the latter involves taking possession of them for further transfer to a wholesaler.
You must know that in relation to one and the same batch of drugs, the perpetrator cannot both place them on the market and participate in their trade. The purchase and subsequent sale of the same batch of drugs to other persons does not result in criminal liability for both types of crimes. In such a situation, the perpetrator is only responsible for participating in the trade in narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances. The assumption that the perpetrator placed on the market and at the same time participated in drug trade will be justified only in a situation where the perpetrator introduced some drugs to the market and participated in the trafficking of another batch of drugs.
Drug trafficking
A specific form of the crime described is participation in drug trafficking. According to the Act on Counteracting Drug Addiction, it may involve:
- import,
- export,
- transport,
- intra-Community purchase, or
- intra-Community delivery
of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, new psychoactive substances and poppy straw.
The term import means every introduction of the above substances to the customs territory of the European Union.
Export involves any removal outside the customs territory of the European Union. Transport comes down to the movement of drugs between two countries through the territory of the Republic of Poland, which begins and ends outside it.
Intra-Community purchase is a transfer from the territory of a European Union Member State to the territory of our country. On the other hand, intra-Community delivery concerns the movement of the indicated preparations from Poland to another European Union Member State.
It is worth pointing out that import, export, transport, intra-Community purchase or delivery do not have to be made directly by the perpetrator. It may be carried out, for example, using animals, mechanical devices, as well as entities providing transport or forwarding services, such as transport or courier companies.
Everyone is equal before the law. Effective lawyer makes the difference
What are the consequences of placing drugs on the market?
If, through your actions, you introduced drugs to the market or participated in such an operation, you may face criminal liability specified in Article 56 of the Act on Counteracting Drug Addiction. In this case, you will be liable to a fine and imprisonment from six months to eight years.
If your conduct had a lesser gravity, the penalty will be limited to a fine, restriction of liberty or imprisonment for up to one year.
On the other hand, if the subject of your act was a significant amount of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, new psychoactive substances or poppy straw, and therefore you committed the described crime in its aggravated type, the possible penal repression will become more severe and will take the form of a fine and imprisonment from two to twelve years.
You must also know that you may be liable not only for committing such a prohibited act, but also for making preparations to commit it.
The threat of punishment in such a case is as follows:
- a fine, restriction of liberty or imprisonment of up to two years – for preparations to commit a basic type of crime,
- imprisonment for up to three years – for preparations to commit an aggravated crime.
This rule does not apply only to lesser gravity – in this case “preparation” is not subject to liability.
Penalties for drug trafficking
Of course, the crime of drug trafficking is also punished accordingly. If you took part in it, you could face a fine and imprisonment for up to five years.
In a case of lesser gravity, the penalty provided for will be limited to a fine, restriction of liberty or imprisonment for up to one year. If you smuggled a significant amount of drugs or did so for financial or personal gain, you may be fined and sentenced to imprisonment from three to twenty years.
It should be added that preparations for trafficking are punishable in exactly the same way and to the same extent as in the case of drug trading described above.
Provision, trade and trafficking of drugs within an organized crime group – what is the liability in this respect?
Very often, the drug crimes described in this article are committed within an organized criminal group, commonly known as the mafia. If such a state of affairs occurs, it constitutes a separate basis for its members to be liable under the Penal Code.
What is an organized criminal group from a legal perspective?
It is a group of perpetrators organized to:
- committing similar types of crimes, i.e. on a continuous basis,
- committing several prohibited acts that result in the creation of a source of income ensuring specific profits for a certain period of time.
Even a low level of organization is enough to create it, which ensures committing crimes and having a steady income. It must have a specific leader or group of leaders, whose function, however, does not have to be permanent. An organized criminal group should consist of at least three people united by a common goal, which is to constantly commit crimes.
In spite of the “organized” attribute, there is no requirement for the group to have a special internal organizational structure. It consists in its relatively constant composition, although not all members have to participate in committing each of the planned criminal acts. However, they must accept its goals and be ready to meet the needs of the group in the form of, for example, providing the tools necessary for its criminal activities, organizing places of storage of distributed illegal goods and distributing them for sale.
It is necessary to have a permanent organizational bond between the group members, based on an agreement aimed at committing prohibited acts together. The basic difference between this form of criminal activity and the so-called gang, i.e. a loose, somewhat occasional group of criminals, is precisely the fact that it is organized in the form of a permanent structure. It can take a vertical form – with one leader who directs its activities, or horizontal – with a permanent group of participants coordinating activities according to established rules.
Contact between its members is not established for the purpose of committing individual criminal acts, but with a preconceived intention to commit as many of them as possible. This type of group is also characterized by durability, a process of planning activities, a coordinated manner of conduct, and an appropriate division of roles between its participants who remain in permanent relationships.
You must know that in order for a given perpetrator to be liable for participation in an organized criminal group, the mere fact of belonging to it is sufficient, even if he has not committed any other prohibited acts within it.
In the described context, members of an organized criminal group bear the above-mentioned responsibility regardless of the liability they face for committing drug-related crimes.
What is this liability?
Pursuant to Article 258 of the Penal Code – a person who takes part in an organized group or association aimed at committing a crime is subject to the penalty of imprisonment from six months to eight years. If it is armed in nature, the perpetrator is subject to the penalty of imprisonment from one to ten years.
The latter means that in its activities it uses weapons or assumes their use in the future and has them for this purpose or conducts activities aimed at collecting them.
It should be added that a person who voluntarily:
- withdrew from participation in a group or association and
- disclosed all relevant circumstances of the committed act to the body responsible for prosecuting crimes or
- prevented the commission of the intended crime
To sum up – the production, provision, trade and trafficking of drugs are subject to severe penalties. Therefore, it is best if you do not participate in committing such acts. However, if fate has led you down this path, it is good if you make sure that the punishment you receive is as mild as possible.
Therefore, you should seriously consider using the help of a professional lawyer, i.e. a lawyer or a legal advisor. His skills and experience in handling this type of cases will guarantee you a fair trial in which you will not become a scapegoat, and will also ensure a punishment that is not too severe in relation to the crime you committed. Under favorable circumstances, a competent lawyer will try to obtain extraordinary leniency or a suspended sentence. Your fate is in your hands.…
Are you looking for the appropriate person? You might have already found them – contact us and find out how we will use the acquired knowledge and experience to protect you from criminal liability.
