The story
Kazakhstan’s new criminal code eased two parts of cannabis law when it replaced the Soviet-era code on 1 January 1998. The personal-possession offence covered acquisition or keeping only in the legally defined large band, and the separate crime of repeated small possession disappeared. Ordinary unauthorised growing gained a fine alternative and a lower prison ceiling.[1][2][3]
Small holdings lost a separate repeat offence
The earlier code allowed criminal prosecution when someone bought or kept a small personal quantity again within a year after an administrative penalty. A person could therefore move from the administrative system into criminal proceedings without the authorities having to prove an intention to supply another person.[2]
The replacement’s personal-acquisition and keeping offence required a large quantity and carried up to three years in prison. Its drug chapter contained no equivalent of the old separate repeat-small-possession offence. The quantity dividing the bands therefore became central to whether personal acquisition or keeping fell within that crime.[1][2]
Other drug activities had their own criminal rules. The new code grouped manufacture, transport and supply separately from the narrower personal-acquisition and keeping provision, with heavier penalties. Users still faced legal restrictions on obtaining and handling cannabis.[1]
Growing gained a fine alternative
The old code punished growing the named prohibited kinds of hemp with up to five years in prison. The replacement offered a fine of 500–700 monthly calculation units, an income-based fine or up to two years in prison for ordinary unauthorised cultivation. Calculation units were the statutory measure used to set monetary penalties.[1][2]
Growing as a group, repeatedly or in a large quantity still carried three to eight years. The new ordinary tier therefore made the sentencing choices less severe while retaining criminal liability for an unauthorised home grow.[1]
Earlier sentences had to be reviewed
The law bringing the code into force repealed the old code from the same date. It required review of earlier sentences where the replacement removed criminal liability, reduced punishment or otherwise improved a person’s legal position. Pending cases concerning conduct the new code no longer treated as criminal were to be closed.[3]
These were instructions to revisit cases. They connected a change in the statute to people already serving sentences or facing prosecution.[3]
Another reform followed in 2011
The change followed the 1991 repeal of use penalties, which had left repeated small possession criminal. Public use acquired a new administrative fine in 2006, while the large-possession offence survived until the 2011 reform. Together, these changes explain several distinct stages behind Kazakhstan’s present rules.[4][5][6]
Score by segment 0 to 10
- Possession · 25%1 → 2+1
- Personal cultivation · 25%0 → 1+1
- Punishment & enforcement · 20%1 → 1
- Sharing & gifting · 10%1 → 1
- Consumption · 10%3 → 3
- Legal access · 10%0 → 0
The bar shows the score after the change; the tick marks where it stood before. Kazakhstan's scores have changed again since.
References
- Kazakhstan — early edition of the 1997 Criminal Code, reproduced by PRGArticles 259 and 262; edition incorporating July 1998 amendments and preceding July 1999 changes
- Kazakhstan — Kazakh SSR Criminal Code, final consolidation reproduced by UchetArticles 212-1, 213, 213-3 and 214, including amendment notes for 30 July 1987 and 21 June 1991; final 1997 text, not original 1959 penalties
- Kazakhstan — Law 168 of 16 July 1997 bringing the Criminal Code into forceArticles 1–3: commencement and old-code repeal on 1 January 1998, retrospective sentence review; later consolidation
- Kazakhstan — Law 694-XII of 21 June 1991 on compulsory treatment and drug-use penalties, PRG reproductionSections I, II(1)(4), II(4)(1), III and V; edition before July 1992 changes, retaining later repeal annotations
- Kazakhstan — Law 123 of 20 January 2006, reproduced by CDBArticle 1(221), inserting administrative article 336-2; article 2 assigns commencement from 1 January 2006
- Kazakhstan — Law 393-IV of 18 January 2011, reproduced by CDBArticle 1(1)(124), deleting criminal article 259(1); article 1(4)(9), adding administrative article 320(1-1); article 2, commencement after publication
Checked. The date and the event were compared with a source that was read. The score before the change is an editorial estimate.