Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced sweeping anti-drug measures and vowed to prevent foreign-funded campaigns promoting marijuana and club drug use, declaring his government will be “absolutely uncompromising” toward narcotics crime.

In his annual parliamentary address, Kobakhidze outlined recent law enforcement successes and new policy changes targeting both drug trafficking and what he characterised as externally financed pro-drug advocacy.

“We will be absolutely uncompromising toward drug crime. We will not allow anyone to poison our fellow citizens, including young people. We will not allow anyone to opaquely finance pro-drug campaigns in our country with external funding to encourage the consumption of marijuana, club drugs and other similar substances,” the Prime Minister stated.

The Prime Minister thanked the Parliament for adopting the Transparency Law and Law on Grants, which refer to foreign funding, linking them to the anti-drug initiative.

“This legislation is directed precisely against such actions. We will not allow anyone to bring such vice into our country with external financing, hidden from society,” he said.

Kobakhidze highlighted significant recent operations, including the seizure of an “unprecedented volume” of heroin by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the arrest of 18 major drug dealers in a special operation conducted “just a few days ago.”

“The fight against drugs is one of our most important priorities, which emerged from the measures implemented over the past month,” he declared.

“We will not stop, and very active steps will be taken in the future to minimise drug consumption in our country to the maximum, and we will be uncompromising toward drug dealers. Everyone should remember this very well,” the PM warned.

As the Prime Minister stated, the government also announced major structural changes to drug-related policies, including new restrictions on psychotropic drug imports and a complete state takeover of substitution therapy programs.

“We made a very important decision related to the import of psychotropic preparations into our country, which was one of the encouraging factors for the inappropriate use of these medications,” Kobakhidze explained.

“We also decided that substitution programs will be implemented only by state institutions,” he added.

“The state will insure against any vice in this direction. Under no circumstances should anyone be able to carry out drug sales in our country in illegal or legal form,” Kobakhidze stated.

The Prime Minister emphasized the urgent nature of these reforms, announcing that legislation should be adopted next week with the shortest possible implementation timeframes.

“The approach is that the transfer should happen as quickly as possible, both for the import of psychotropic medications and for the substitution therapy program by the state. These timeframes should be as short as possible. The main thing is that we don’t have gaps,” Kobakhidze stated.

He said he would work with the Health Minister over the coming days to “determine maximally tight deadlines in both directions.”