The parliamentary constitutional and legislative affairs committee approved a number of new amendments for drugs law in a meeting on Monday, which will add new penalties to combat drugs and regulate their use and their trafficking. The government submitted modifications to amend the drugs law within the framework of the state's plan to combat the issue of the spread of drugs in all its forms. The amendment aims to add new kinds of narcotic drugs to the current list of drugs of the existing law, including the traditional types and does not cover the materials which have been recently produced and become more lethal than typical materials. The draft law will contribute toward tackling the problem of narcotic drugs, both chemical and botanical, and will eliminate the strox narcotic drug that a large number of people have been using recently, along with other new types of drugs that have negatively impacted the spread of domestic violence and crimes. The explanatory memorandum clarified that the reason for the law is due to the growing problem of the newly developed drugs and the rapid spread of its new psychological effects. The bill will add a new paragraph for Article 39 of the existing law stipulating that a penalty of not less than a year imprisonment and a fine of not less than EGP 1,000 and not more than EGP 10,000 shall be imposed on anyone who has been caught in a place preparing the use of drugs. During the past weeks, a committee was formed by the ministry of social solidarity performed medical check-ups on around 1,438 school bus drivers until now during the school year 2018/19 in five governates: Cairo, Giza, Sharqeya, Gharbeya, and Daqahleya, and started check-ups for employees of governmental institutions. The committee further approved amendments to counter-terrorism for anyone who promotes extremist ideas to commit terrorist acts, whether by word or by writing or by any other means, decreeing that they shall be sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment and a minimum of 15 years if advocated for attacks against places of worship, state institutions, public places, members of the armed forces, or the police or special forces.
