Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis continues to work on a draft law “On the prevention and treatment of narcological diseases”.

The law is a legal act with the highest legal force that governs important areas of society. Therefore, lawmaking is considered a complex process, based on the interests of the people, ensuring human rights.

After entry into force, it should work or there is no reason to accept it. A law cannot be a law, if there is no power behind it, people should feel its impact in everyday life, when solving certain issues.

For this reason, the deputy corps pays great attention to the quality of draft laws; during the discussions, some are returned to the responsible committee of the lower house for revision.

Despite the pandemic situation, members of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis continue to work on draft laws, some are ready for a second reading. Among them is the bill "On the prevention and treatment of narcological diseases."

What is the document aimed at, what new standards are being introduced and what will change?

“The country has provided narcological services to the population, special attention is paid to primary prevention, because the disease is easier to prevent than to treat,” said Jumanazar Otojonov, a member of the Committee on Public Health. - However, the legal acts regulating the industry are outdated. So, in the current Laws “On Compulsory Treatment of Patients with Chronic Alcoholism, Drug Addiction or Substance Abuse” of 1992, “On Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances” of 1999, there are no specific standards for the prevention of narcological diseases, ensuring the rights and obligations of patients, their employment, determination the order and duration of compulsory and voluntary treatment. This prevents the effective organization of activities in the system. In addition, in the aforementioned documents, the norms on the procedure and terms for appealing court decisions on compulsory treatment do not comply with the criminal procedure and civil procedure legislation. And the draft law “On the Prevention and Treatment of Narcological Diseases” will eliminate these shortcomings. The document introduces new concepts that were not previously in national legislation, such as “narcological assistance”, “psychoactive substances”, “medical and social rehabilitation of people suffering from narcological diseases”, “compulsory treatment”.

According to the deputies, the document is supplemented by the norms on the powers of the Cabinet of Ministers, ministries of health and internal affairs, local government bodies in the field of drug treatment, education, participation of employment and labor relations, and self-government of citizens in the prevention of narcological diseases. Thus, the Ministry of Health is empowered to develop, approve and implement state policies and state programs for the prevention of narcological diseases and the development of narcological assistance to the population, the study of the narcological situation in the country, the training, retraining and advanced training of personnel working in this field and others.

It is noteworthy that the draft law defines the procedure for applying occupational therapy. Moreover, drug-addicted patients undergoing compulsory treatment and who are involved in work for medical purposes at small enterprises organized at drug treatment facilities are accrued wages on the basis of current norms, prices, wage conditions and in the manner prescribed by law.

When preparing the draft law for the second reading, the proposals and recommendations expressed during the discussions by the factions of political parties and the general public were taken into account.

According to committee members, the adoption of the document will improve the regulatory framework for the provision of narcological services to the population, establish joint work of the relevant ministries and departments, ensure the rights and obligations of patients, their social protection.