Menkumham Yasonna Prioritizes The Completion Of The Narcotics Bill

Menkumham Yasonna H Laoly. (Between)

JAKARTA - Minister of Law and Human Rights (Menkumham) Yasonna Laoly prioritized the completion of the discussion of the Draft Law (RUU) on the Second Amendment to Law Number 35 of 2009 concerning Narcotics, which is planned to be combined with the Psychotropic Law.

"I ask the Chairman, this is a draft law that has been discussed for a long time, even in Commission III several times it has entered the meeting decision. So that it can be accelerated and can be resolved," Yasonna said in a working meeting (raker) between the Minister of Law and Human Rights and Commission III of the DPR at the parliament complex, Jakarta, Wednesday, March 29, which was confiscated by Antara.

Previously, said Yasonna, there had been a committee or team formed by the DPR. However, discussions about the Narcotics Bill were temporarily postponed to discuss further related to the merger of the Narcotics Law with the Psychotropic Law.

"It takes further talks with Commission III and related ministries/agencies," Yasonna said.

He hopes that the Narcotics Law can be completed before 2024 to become a legacy of Commission III of the DPR and the Ministry of Law and Human Rights (Kemenkumham) for this period, especially the Narcotics Bill is one of the draft laws that are included in the 2020-2024 Medium-Term National Legislation Program (Prolegnas).

"If it can be resolved by the Narcotics Law, this is really a significant achievement, including strengthening criminal justice systems, integrated criminal justice systems," said Yasonna.

The revision of the Narcotics Law was widely discussed, especially after the tragedy of the Tangerang Class I prison fire. This law is considered to be one of the causes of the number of prisoners who exceed the capacity of prisons.

In addition to being expected to overcome the problem of the number of prisoners who exceed the capacity of the prison, changes to this law will also combine the Psychotropic Law in it. This proposal has been rolled out since the Ministry of Law and Human Rights Working Meeting with Commission III of the DPR on February 2, 2022.

"This is the time for us to revoke the Psychotropic Law and incorporate psychotropic provisions into the Narcotics Law," said Deputy Minister of Law and Human Rights (Wamenkumham) Edward Omar Sharif Hiariej.