Russian Duma passes bills banning propaganda of narcotic drugs

MOSCOW. July 23 (Interfax) - The State Duma has passed at its third and final reading a package of bills prohibiting the propaganda of narcotic drugs in Russia and introducing criminal and administrative liability for such propaganda.

One of the three bills adopted by the State Duma on Tuesday specifies the definition of propaganda and clarifies which works of art and literature the new legislation will apply to.

"We specified the drugs propaganda term itself. Works of literature and works of art will not be regarded as propaganda if the mention of narcotic drugs in them is an integral part of the artistic concept justified by the genre," Chairman of the State Duma's State-Building and Legislation Committee Pavel Krasheninnikov told journalists earlier.

"All literature published before August 1, 1990, including works by Arthur Conan Doyle and Mikhail Bulgakov, will not be subject" to the measure, Krasheninnikov said.

In addition, the propaganda term will not apply to specialized medical and pharmaceutical publications that contain information on narcotic substances, psychotropic substances and their precursors permitted for medical uses, as well as to scientific and educational publications, including audiovisual works, that do not contain information on the acceptability, appeal or necessity of illegal drugs use, according to the law.

Works of literature and works of art mentioning narcotic substances as an integral element of the artistic concept will have to be marked accordingly.

The list of works of literature that will be labeled this way will be compiled by the Culture Ministry rather than by librarians, Krasheninnikov said. Such labels may be placed on the back covers of books, he said.

Two other bills passed by the State Duma introduce liability for breaching these requirements.

According to the bill, "dissemination or the public demonstration of literary works and works of art containing information on narcotics, psychotropic substances, their analogues or precursors, or plants containing narcotics or psychotropic substances or their precursors in breach of the requirements concerning the marking of the said works" will lead to warnings or administrative fines being imposed on citizens in an amount of 2,000 rubles to 4,000 rubles with confiscation of the products that became the subject of the administrative offence; the fines for legal entities will range from 300,000 rubles to 600,000 rubles, also with confiscation of the products.

Propaganda of such substances will be punishable by a fine of 4,000 rubles to 5,000 rubles for citizens, including the confiscation of such products, and by a fine of 800,000 rubles to 1 million rubles for entities with the confiscation of such products.

Propaganda of the these substances on the Internet will lead to a fine in an amount of 5,000 rubles to 30,000 rubles on citizens and one million rubles to 1.5 million rubles on legal entities.

If such actions are committed by a foreign citizen, a fine in an amount of 5,000 rubles to 30,000 rubles with confiscation of products and with administrative expulsion from Russia is possible.

In cases of propaganda via the Internet, individuals sentenced to administrative sanctions twice over one year or persons with a previous conviction will be ordered to pay a fine of 100,000 rubles to 300,000 rubles or will be sentenced to up to two years in prison.

The laws are due to take effect from September 1, 2025.