The story
Ukraine’s parliament adopted a drug-law overhaul in February 1995 that made open or group drug use at specified public venues punishable by up to four years in prison or a fine. The same package eased some cultivation offences and ordered releases for specified growing convictions, combining harsher public-use rules with relief for some growers.[1][2]
Public use became a separate crime
Ukraine had removed general penalties for non-prescribed drug use in 1991. That decree deleted use from both the administrative offence and the crime triggered by repetition after an administrative penalty. Possession remained separately punishable.[3]
The 1995 amendments created a new offence covering open or group use of narcotics at places used for educational, sporting and cultural events, and other places where crowds gather. An ordinary conviction could bring up to four years in prison or a fine of 100 to 300 minimum monthly wages.[1]
Repetition, specified earlier drug crimes or the law’s category of especially dangerous repeat offenders could bring three to five years in prison. The new offence focused on where and how people used drugs, alongside the separate laws governing what they possessed.[1]
Some growers gained an administrative first tier
The overhaul also rewrote cultivation penalties. Ordinary unlawful sowing or growing of hemp or opium poppy attracted an administrative fine and confiscation of the plants. Repeating it within a year after an administrative penalty could bring up to five years in prison or a fine.[1]
Aggravated cultivation remained much more serious. Growing 500 or more plants, specified previous convictions, or the law’s supply-related circumstances could bring five to twelve years in prison and confiscation of property. The reform therefore gave different consequences to an ordinary first grow and the more serious categories it defined.[1]
Parliament ordered releases and case closures
The companion resolution ordered release from punishment for specified cultivation convictions. It also required pending cases in those categories to be closed, including cases whose sentences had not yet become final or begun to be enforced.[2]
The resolution expressly excluded specified other cultivation convictions from that release. Its distinctions mattered to people already serving sentences as well as people whose cases were still being investigated or heard.[2]
Parliament directed the amendments to take effect on publication. Chairman Oleksandr Moroz signed the implementation resolution on 15 February. Later laws rewrote the offences again; the Ukraine profile describes the later possession and growing thresholds and the public-use offence carried into the new criminal code.[1][2]
Score by segment 0 to 10
- Possession · 25%1 → 1
- Personal cultivation · 25%0 → 2+2
- Punishment & enforcement · 20%3 → 3
- Sharing & gifting · 10%1 → 1
- Consumption · 10%3 → 2−1
- Legal access · 10%0 → 0
The bar shows the score after the change; the tick marks where it stood before. Ukraine's scores have changed again since.
References
- Ukraine — Law 64/95-VR, original edition of 15 February 1995, reproduced from the Rada portal1995 · Part I(1), inserted article 229-16; Part I(2), rewritten articles 229-3 and 229-8; Part III, articles 44 and 106-2. VVR 1995, no. 10, item 64.
- Ukraine parliament — Resolution 65/95-VR of 15 February 1995 on commencement and application of the drug-law amendments1995 · Paragraphs 1–4: commencement on publication; release, case closures and excluded convictions. VVR 1995, no. 10, item 65.
- Ukrainian SSR Presidium — Decree 663-XII, original edition of 28 January 1991, reproduced from the Rada portal1991 · Parts II–IV (compulsory treatment and examination), V–VI (removal of use offences), VII (release and shortening of confinement); signature block.
Checked. The date and the event were compared with a source that was read. The score before the change is an editorial estimate.