Arts. 1–8

The adoption by the State of the necessary measures for the protection of health is declared to be in the public interest to prevent, control, investigate, avoid and impose sanctions on all activity related to the production, manufacture, use, possession, trafficking and commercialization of narcotics, psychotropics and other drugs or pharmaceuticals susceptible of producing alterations or transformations of the central nervous system and whose use is capable of causing physical or psychological dependence, included in the international conventions and treaties in this regard, ratified by Guatemala and in any other international legal instrument that is approved on this matter.

For the purposes of the present law, the following is understood by:

a)Drugs: Any substance or pharmacological agent which, introduced into the body of a living person, modifies its physiological functions and transforms states of consciousness;

Seeds, inflorescences, plants or parts thereof and any other substance from which they may be extracted shall also be considered drugs.

The provisions of this law shall not be applicable to alcoholic beverages and tobacco;

b)Narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances: Any natural or synthetic drug, so considered in treaties or international agreements of mandatory observance in the Republic of Guatemala, the Health Code and other provisions issued to determine the drugs of prohibited use to which the present law refers;

c)Addiction: Physical or psychic dependence, the former understood as subjection that obliges the person to consume drugs, and which upon suspension of its administration causes physical and/or bodily disturbances, and the latter as the impulse that requires the periodic and continuous administration of drugs to suppress psychic discomfort;

d)Illicit traffic: Any act of production, manufacture, extraction, preparation, offering, distribution, deposit, storage, transportation, sale, supply, transit, possession, acquisition or holding of any drug, narcotic drug or psychotropic substance, without legal authorization;

e)Consumption: Occasional, periodic, habitual or permanent use of the substance to which the present law refers;

f)International transit: When the active subject of the crime by any means imports, exports, facilitates or transfers narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances from one country to another;

g)Precursors: It is the raw material or any other unprocessed, semi-processed or processed substance that serves for the preparation of narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances.

h)Property: Assets of any type, corporeal or incorporeal, movable or immovable, tangible or intangible, and the documents or legal instruments evidencing ownership or other rights over said assets;

i)Instruments and objects of the crime:

the instruments of the crime are all equipment, materials, money, weapons, vehicles, vessels, aircraft and any other property or proceeds derived from or originating in the commission of the crimes established by the present Law or which are used for their execution or preparation. The objects of the crime are the drugs, narcotic drugs, psychotropics and precursors derived from the crimes to which this Law refers.

j)Commission: National Commission Against Addictions and Illicit Drug Trafficking.

Legal use. Only the importation, production, manufacture, extraction, possession and use of drugs in strictly necessary quantities may be authorized, exclusively by legally empowered persons and under their strict responsibility, for medical treatment, toxicological and pharmacological analyses, scientific research and the preparation of medicines.

In commercial centers for private individuals, their sale shall require a medical prescription.

The criminal judges of First Instance and Sentencing Tribunals competent to hear crimes of narcoactivity may authorize the Director of the Central American Canine Training School, of the National Civil Police, the possession and use of drugs and narcotics for Canine Training purposes.

For such purposes, the Director of the Central American Canine Training School shall submit a written request to the competent Judge, which shall contain:

a)Identification data of the applicant and those of the Chief of the Anti-Narcotics Operations Department of the National Civil Police, attaching a certified copy of their respective appointments.

b)Number of persons and dogs participating in the course, as well as the duration thereof.

c)Type of drug or narcotic requested.

d)Exact quantity of the drug or narcotic requested for training and location thereof.

e)Justification for the quantity requested.

f)Dates and quantities requested six (6) months in advance, if applicable, and Judge before whom it was requested.

g)Signature of the applicant and approval of the Chief of the Anti-Narcotics Operations Department of the National Civil Police.

A copy of the request shall be sent to the Executive Secretariat of the Commission Against Addictions and Illicit Drug Trafficking -SECCATID- and to the Prosecutor's Office for Crimes of Narcoactivity, which may oppose by stating the reasons and grounds for their opposition.

The authorization shall be issued by the competent Judge or Tribunal, following analysis by the designated toxicology laboratory, which shall verify the degree of purity and the exact weight of the authorized quantities. The drug or narcotic may be removed from the seizures carried out by the Security Forces of the Country, prior to the destruction provided for in Article 19 of this law or from the stored confiscated drugs subject to investigation when there is no accused person. For the act of removal, the verification procedure stipulated in the last paragraph of Article 19 of this Law shall apply insofar as pertinent.

The Director of the Central American Canine Training School shall keep the authorized drug or substance in custody under his strict responsibility and under maximum security conditions, keeping for such purpose a control register, authorized by SECCATID, which shall contain all data on weight, purity, use, percentages of loss due to use of the substances, persons, and all others that contribute to providing transparency to the handling thereof.

Upon completion of the course, the Director shall inform the Judge who authorized it, detailing the information contained in the control register of the substances, and the Judge shall order the destruction of the remainders, following analysis by the toxicology laboratory of the weight and purity of the returned drug or narcotic. Losses shall be fully justified before the Judge by the Director of the School. A copy of the report rendered to the Judge shall be sent to SECCATID.

Authorization and control: The establishments that are legally engaged in the commerce, sale, industrialization, manufacture, analysis, refining, transformation, extraction, dilution, packaging, preparation, production, importation, exportation, supply, or storage of solvents or substances that may be used as precursors in the processing of narcotics and psychotropics capable of causing dependence shall have authorization from the Ministry of Public Health and submit to the controls and oversight carried out by the latter.

It is the duty of the State to procure the necessary economic resources in order to ensure the rehabilitation treatment of addicts and to promote their social readaptation.

Collective legal persons of a social, informational, cultural, recreational, sports, religious and any other nature shall cooperate with programs against drug use. Every person shall cooperate with the prevention of the crimes referred to in this law and the illicit consumption of drugs.

It is the duty of the State, through its competent organs, to promote international, technical and economic cooperation, to strengthen, as well as to coordinate strategies among states and research, prevention, sanction and rehabilitation programs in matters of drugs, narcotics and psychotropics, as well as to conclude treaties, agreements and accords to improve the effectiveness of this cooperation and coordination.

To improve surveillance of air and maritime space and increase the capacity for control of international trafficking in illegal drugs, the State of Guatemala is granted relief from all classes of taxes for the importation of radar equipment and other instruments used for the control of narcoactivity.