How should synthetic cannabinoids be classified as drug-related crimes in judicial proceedings? How much of this substance should be used for illicit trafficking?
In response to these questions, and in view of the growing incidence of the use of this type of substance in the country's capital, the Governing Council of the Supreme People's Court approved Ruling 476.
Among its paragraphs, it establishes that in order to decide the integration of the aggravated modality of the criminal type, considering relatively large quantities, the analysis with synthetic cannabinoids will be carried out taking into account the high harmful effect of the substance, the qualitative potency, its purity, the estimated doses that could be generated with the amount used, the level of addiction it can create, and the effects it causes to the health of the consumers; which is accredited with the expert tests practiced in the laboratories of Criminalistics and Toxicology of the Ministry of Public Health.
Likewise, when the fact consists in the possession of illicit drugs or substances with similar effects, it will be established penalties of imprisonment from one to three years or fines of 300,000 quotas, or both, for possession of such illicit drug with similar or greater effects than cocaine.
WHAT ARE SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS?
Commonly known as chemical, synthetic cannabinoids are compounds manufactured in laboratories, which simulate psychoactive actions equivalent to those of the marijuana plant.
However, it is a more potent, toxic and harmful drug for people's health, affecting the functioning of the central nervous system, peripheral organs and even causing death.
For that reason, the ruling qualifies and levels the ways of acting in judicial processes, in view of the doubts that had arisen among the judges of the People's Provincial Court of Havana, said Ileana Julia Gómez Guerra, President of the Chamber for Crimes against State Security of the Supreme Court (TSP, for its Spanish acronym).
She explained that there are around 45 types of cannabinoids in circulation in Cuba and, even if the amount ingested by the individual is smaller, it can have serious consequences.
"This drug is diluted in any precursor (such as ethanol or acetone) and then sprayed, by means of a spray, on sheets of paper or other products."
In this way, a high number of doses is obtained with a small quantity and generates significant economic income for those involved in its illegal commercialization, she added.
"Because the psychoactive effects in the organism usually last between 20 and 25 minutes approximately, motivating the consumer to seek it more frequently".
She pointed out that, due to its high level of addiction and toxicity, it is considered a more potent drug than other substances listed in international conventions or controlled by Resolution 25 of 2022, of the Cuban Ministry of Public Health.
"In addition, the easy handling for consumption and the low perception of risk that the population still has about its use, make it a very harmful behavior," she added.
ON THE JUDICIAL PROCESS
-How is the aggravated modality of trafficking with large quantities integrated in the case of the chemical?
For some years now, the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme People's Court, which hears cassation appeals in drug-related crimes, based on judicial practice, established that large quantities of illicit substances were trafficked when the accused was seized with one pound, which is 460 grams, she clarified.
However, in the case of "chemicals" Gómez Guerra said, subjecting them to that formula would not be adequate. For this reason, Opinion 476 provides that the qualification of the aggravated modality of trafficking with relatively large quantities will be made independently of the amount seized, taking into account the specific characteristics of the substance.
"For the other types of drugs, what was defined by the Criminal Chamber at the time is maintained, in addition to establishing the analysis of the specific case and the context in which it occurred".
Regarding the penalties foreseen for this modality, she pointed out that the crime ranges between ten and 30 years of imprisonment, life imprisonment and death.
In order to demonstrate these characteristics of cannabinoids, the specialists of the Criminalistics and Toxicology laboratories can, based on their experience, explain in the trial the harmful effect, the estimated doses that can be obtained with that amount of drugs, the persons that could be affected by their consumption, the purity of the substance, as well as the consequences it could have for the consumer's health.
In addition, with the rest of the means of evidence practiced, the profits obtained or possible from the commercialization of illicit drugs, the characteristics of the territories and places where these acts took place (incidence of illicit acts associated with drugs, sales prices) should be investigated. The reasons that led to the qualification of the aggravated modality for "relatively large quantities" will be argued and motivated on the basis of a logical and multilateral examination of the evidence practiced in the oral trial on the aspects defined in this opinion.
Gómez Guerra stated that when the fact consists in the possession of synthetic cannabinoids, the qualification will be made according to the characteristics of the drug, in which cocaine and other substances with similar or superior effects are regulated.
In this sense, the sanctioning framework establishes the deprivation of liberty from one to three years or a fine of 300,000 quotas.
The ruling also specifies that the aforementioned is applicable to all psychoactive substances with characteristics or effects superior to natural, semi-synthetic or synthetic drugs under international or national control, subject to illicit trafficking.
"The population should know that in the first semester of the year, 98% of the people tried for drug-related crimes were punished, and 84% were sentenced to imprisonment, of which 92% were sentenced to effective deprivation of liberty."
Likewise, 5.9% were alternative sanctions to the deprivation of liberty, based on the individualization of each case.
The President of the Chamber for crimes against State Security in the TSP also added that the policy of granting release benefits to persons serving sentences for these crimes is low, as well as the penal and penitentiary policy is rigorous, since "it is a crime that affects the health of people, the tranquility of families, order and social discipline, in addition to putting at stake the security and stability of the country".
