The story · written by gpt-6,
Algeria’s 1985 health law kept prison available for illicit drug use while providing routes through treatment that could prevent prosecution or punishment.[1][2] It also narrowed the capital clause from the repealed 1975 ordinance to specified trafficking and facilitation offences.[1][2]
Drug use stays within criminal law
A person using substances or plants classified as narcotics faced two months to one year in prison, a 500–5,000-dinar fine, or either penalty alone.[1] The law therefore allowed a financial penalty without prison as well as imprisonment.[1] Personal use remained a criminal offence at that range.[1]
Trafficking and facilitating another person’s use remained separate offences.[1][2] The capital clause referred to those specified offences where their character threatened the Algerian people’s moral health.[1][2] The ordinary use offence was outside that list, unlike the broad wording of the 1975 ordinance.[1][2]
Following treatment could prevent a prosecution
The law said prosecution would not be pursued against people who followed the prescribed detoxification treatment through to completion.[1] It also covered users who had undergone detoxification or medical supervision after the acts alleged against them.[1] Seized substances and plants still had to be confiscated.[1]
If a person had already been charged and needed treatment, an investigating judge or juvenile judge could order a detoxification course with medical supervision and rehabilitation measures.[1] The trial court could continue those requirements and could withhold the ordinary use penalty when the treatment provisions applied.[1]
Doctors remained connected to the court
Treatment could take place in a specialised establishment or outside it under medical supervision.[1] The treating doctor had to inform the judicial authority periodically about progress and results.[1] Evading an ordered course exposed the person to the use penalties again.[1]
The treatment provisions consequently changed a user’s possible outcome while leaving the offence itself in place.[1] The person’s response to prescribed care and the court’s decisions mattered to whether punishment followed.[1]
Replacement legislation arrives in 2004
The 2004 drug law expressly repealed these drug provisions, including the capital clause.[3] It set a new use and personal-possession range of two months to two years, with a fine or either punishment alone, and retained treatment-linked non-prosecution.[3]
A 2007 implementing decree later detailed the medical reports and certificates supporting those decisions.[4] Treatment remained part of the legal history of Algeria’s drug controls alongside severe supply penalties.[3][4]
Score by segment 0 to 10
- Possession · 25%0 → 0
- Personal cultivation · 25%0 → 0
- Punishment & enforcement · 20%0 → 2+2
- Sharing & gifting · 10%0 → 0
- Consumption · 10%1 → 1
- Legal access · 10%0 → 0
The bar shows the score after the change; the tick marks where it stood before. Algeria's scores have changed again since.
References
- Algerian Official Gazette 8, 17 February 1985 — Law 85-05 of 16 FebruaryPrinted pp. 138–140: Articles 243–253 and 268; original scanarchived
- Algerian Official Gazette 15, 21 February 1975 — Ordinance 75-9 of 17 FebruaryPrinted p. 198: Articles 1–11; use, capital clause and retrospective applicationarchived
- Algerian Official Gazette 83, 26 December 2004 — Law 04-18 of 25 DecemberPrinted pp. 3–7: Articles 4–13, 17–20, 26–27 and 38archived
- Algerian Official Gazette 49, 5 August 2007 — Decree 07-229 of 30 JulyPrinted pp. 4–5: Articles 1–8, treatment, reports and non-prosecutionarchived
Checked. The date and the event were compared with a source that was read. The score before the change is an editorial estimate.