The story · written by gpt-6,
Drug suppliers in the northern Somali Republic faced ten years in prison and a fine under a decree issued in May 1984.[1] The same decree imposed five years for hosting a drug-consumption venue and three years for entering it to consume.[1]
The decree followed earlier drug controls
The north, now administered as Somaliland, had already come under a penal code that prescribed one to three years for unauthorised drug supply and possession for sale.[2] Its consumption-venue penalties were lower: six months to two years for allowing the premises to be used, and up to six months for attending to consume.[2]
A 1970 law added health-ministry licences, possession offences, controlled cultivation and prescription dispensing.[3] Its accompanying list expressly included cannabis, hashish and Indian hemp.[4]
The 1984 decree’s preamble called for stronger punishment and action against intoxicating drugs.[1]
Supply and consumption venues faced fixed terms
The ten-year offence covered unlawful manufacture, production, import, dealing and supplying or obtaining drugs for another person.[1] It also imposed a fine of 50,000 Somali shillings.[1]
The penalty increased where drugs were delivered to someone under eighteen or to people within the decree’s specified mental-impairment or dependency categories.[1]
Hosting a public or private place where people gathered to consume drugs brought five years and a 25,000-shilling fine.[1] Entering it to consume brought three years and a 20,000-shilling fine.[1] The venue offences distinguished those allowing the gathering from those attending it.[1]
Drug cases went to security courts
The decree assigned drug prosecutions to the National Security Court and its regional branches.[1] Pending cases before ordinary courts were to be transferred, while earlier offences remained subject to the penalties applicable before the decree.[1]
It took effect on the president’s signature and was then submitted for conversion into statute.[1] Parliament’s June conversion law retained the decree and provided its own commencement period after publication.[5]
Somaliland later established a constitutional test
The 2001 constitution retained existing laws only where compatible with sharia, individual rights and fundamental freedoms.[6] It also required crimes and punishments to be established by law and guaranteed an accused person’s presumption of innocence.[6]
Those constitutional conditions became part of the legal order in Somaliland alongside its inherited criminal legislation.[6]
Listed for context. No score change is recorded for Somaliland here.
References
- Somali Democratic Republic — Decree-Law 5 of 18 May 1984 on drug offencesOfficial Gazette 1 June 1984, pp. 394–395, articles 1–7archived
- Somali Republic — Penal Code, Legislative Decree 5 of 16 December 1962 (UNODC text)Articles 342–343; decree approving the Codearchived
- Somali Republic — Law 46 of 3 March 1970 on narcotic drugs, original gazetteOfficial Gazette 22 August 1970, pp. 833–842; articles 1–6, 14–19 and Schedule Aarchived
- Somali Republic — Health Secretary Decree 227 of 26 September 1970Official Gazette 29 October 1970, pp. 1155–1168; enabling clause and entries Cannabis/Hashish and Indian Hemp/Cannabisarchived
- Somali Democratic Republic — Law 25 of 24 June 1984 converting the drug-offences decreeOfficial Gazette 19 July 1984, p. 483, articles 1–2archived
- Republic of Somaliland — Constitution approved by referendum on 31 May 2001Preamble; articles 26–27, 128 and 130(5)archived
Checked. The date and the event were compared with a source that was read.