Capítulo VII. De los delitos y sus penas

Whoever, without being authorized, participates in any form in the international transit of drugs, narcotics and essential substances intended for the manufacture or dissolution of said drugs, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment of twelve to twenty years and a fine of fifty thousand quetzales to one million quetzales.

Whoever, without being legally authorized, sows, cultivates or harvests seeds, inflorescences, plants or parts thereof, from which naturally or by any means drugs producing physical or psychological dependence may be obtained, shall be punished with imprisonment of five to twenty years and a fine of Q.10,000.00 to Q.100,000.00.

Any person who, without legal authorization, prepares, manufactures, transforms, extracts or obtains drugs, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment of eight to twenty years, and a fine of Q.50,000.00 to Q.1,000,000.00.

Whoever without legal authorization acquires, alienates under any title, imports, exports, stores, transports, distributes, supplies, sells, dispenses or carries out any other trafficking activity with respect to seeds, leaves, plants, florescences or substances or products classified as drugs, narcotics, psychotropics or precursors, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment of twelve to twenty years and a fine of Q.50,000.00 to Q.1,000,000.00; the same penalty shall apply to whoever provides the means, facilitates or permits the landing of aircraft used for illicit trafficking.

Whoever acquires or possesses any of the drugs to which this law refers for their own consumption shall be sanctioned with imprisonment of four months to two years and a fine of Q.200.00 to Q.10,000.00. It is understood to be for their own consumption when the seized drug does not exceed the reasonable quantity for immediate consumption, provided that the other circumstances of the act give rise to the conviction that the drug is for personal use.

Whoever in any manner promotes the cultivation, the illicit trafficking of seeds, leaves, flowerings, plants or drugs, or the manufacture, extraction, processing or preparation thereof, or fosters their improper use, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment of six to ten years and a fine of Q. 10,000.00 to Q. 100,000.00.

Whoever possesses, manufactures, transports or distributes equipment, materials or substances, knowing that they are to be used in any of the activities referred to in the preceding articles, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment of five to ten years and a fine of Q. 10,000.00 to Q. 100,000.00,

The same shall be imposed on whoever under any title facilitates, provides, uses or designates an immovable property, premises or establishment for the manufacture, preparation, extraction, storage, cultivation, sale, supply or consumption of drugs. If it is a commercial establishment, it shall be closed.

Narcotic, psychotropic and inhalable, shall be

Whoever alters or falsifies, totally or partially, medical prescriptions and thereby obtains for himself or for another, drugs or medications containing them, shall be sanctioned with a penalty of four months to two years and a fine of Q. 200.00 to Q. 10,000.00. The same penalty shall be applied to whoever, without therapeutic purposes or medical prescription, administers to another person, with the consent of the latter, any type of drugs. If the person to whom they are administered does not give his or her consent or is under eighteen years of age, the penalty shall be three to six years of imprisonment and a fine of Q. 5,000.00 to Q. 100,000.00.

Whoever, being authorized for the dispensing of medicinal substances containing drugs, dispenses them in kind, quality or quantity different from that specified in the medical prescription or without a medical prescription, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment of three to five years and a fine of Q. 2,000.00 to Q.10,000.00.

The physician who prescribes or supplies drugs requiring a prescription for their acquisition when they are not indicated by therapeutics in violation of the laws or regulations on the matter, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment of three to five years of imprisonment, a fine of Q.200.00 to Q.10,000.00 and disqualification from practicing their profession, the latter an accessory penalty which shall not exceed the duration of the liberty-depriving penalty.

Whoever, personally or through an intermediary person, whether a natural or legal person, carries out with other persons or commercial, banking, financial establishments, or establishments of any other nature, commercial transactions with money or proceeds derived from the unlawful activities provided for in this law, regardless of the place in the national or foreign territory where the crime was committed or where said financial resources were produced, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment of six to twenty years and a fine of Q. 50,000.00 to Q. 5,000,000.00. With the same penalty shall be sanctioned:

a)The intermediary person, the owner, the administrator or legal representative or person in charge of the establishment who authorizes, permits or carries out said transactions, knowing the unlawful origin of the money or proceeds.

b)Whoever participates in real or simulated acts or contracts for the acquisition, possession, transfer and administration of property or securities aimed at concealing, covering up, simulating or diluting the financial resources obtained as a result of the unlawful activities to which this law refers.

c)Whoever, without being one of the persons mentioned in the preceding subsection and knowing the unlawful origin of the money or proceeds, authorizes, permits or carries out the transactions to which this article refers, taking advantage of his or her function, employment or position, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment of five to ten years and a fine of Q. 10,000.00 to Q. 1,000,000.00. Legal persons or individual persons who report to the Public Prosecutor's Office transactions over fifty thousand quetzales that they carry out shall not incur in this criminal offense. Such reports may only be used for the purposes of this law.

For the purposes of this Law, the presumption is established that money, product or property comes from transactions derived from the crimes referred to in this Law, when acquired or negotiated within a period of seven (7) years prior to the respective prosecution; said period, for reasons of non-retroactivity of the law, shall begin to be counted from the entry into force of the present Law.

(Paragraph added by Article 3 of Decree 17-2003 of the Congress of the Republic). Likewise, it is presumed that money or property has been obtained, is derived from or comes from the commission of a crime provided for in the present Law, when it is demonstrated that the value of the patrimony of an accused person or of persons who may have benefited from the crime cannot reasonably be justified in accordance with their lawful activities or businesses prior to the commission of the crime.

Those who form part of gangs or associations, composed of two or more persons, intended to sow, cultivate, produce, refine, commercialize, sell, traffic, transport, retain, distribute, store, import, export, receive or deliver drugs, narcotic or psychotropic substances, or products derived therefrom or intended for their preparation, as well as any other illicit activity related thereto, shall be sanctioned, for that sole fact, with a penalty of imprisonment of six to ten years and a fine of Q.1,500.00 to Q.3,000.00. Whoever promotes, directs, finances, or in any manner engages in conduct without which neither the organization nor the activities of these gangs or associations could be carried out, shall be sanctioned with a penalty of imprisonment of ten to twenty years and a fine of Q.3,000.00 to Q.6,000.00. The foregoing is without prejudice to the other crimes in which they have incurred.

Whoever, being a public official or public employee in charge of investigating, judging or holding in custody persons linked to the crimes defined in this law, contributes in any form to the impunity or evasion of such persons, conceals, alters, removes or causes the disappearance of the evidence, traces or instruments of the crime, or secures the benefit or product of such act, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment of six to fifteen years and permanent disqualification for the exercise of public functions, and a fine of Q.50,000.00 to Q.1,000,000.00. If the aforementioned acts were committed through negligence by the public official or public employee, the penalty shall be two to six years with permanent disqualification from functions.

Whoever stimulates, promotes or induces by any means the unauthorized consumption of drugs, substances shall decree it upon other property of the accused or of the sanctioned with imprisonment of two to five years and a fine of Q. 5,000.00 to Q. 100,000.00.

Whoever, for the purpose of obtaining for himself or for a third party any benefit, after a crime contemplated in this law has been committed, without prior agreement conceals, acquires or receives money, securities or objects, knowing that they are proceeds of said crime or have been used to commit it, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment of three to five years and a fine of Q.1,000.00 to Q.100,000.00.

Whoever, with knowledge that a crime contemplated in this law has been committed and without prior agreement assists the perpetrator or accomplice in evading the investigations of the authority or in evading its action, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment of two to five years, plus a fine of Q.1,000.00 to Q.100,000.00. For purposes of the application of this article and the preceding one, it shall be immaterial whether the criminal act was committed in national or foreign territory.

If, as a consequence of the crimes defined in this law, the death of one or more persons should result, the penalty of *death or thirty years of imprisonment shall apply, according to the circumstances of the act. If the result should be serious or very serious injuries or loss or diminution of mental faculties, the penalty shall be twelve to twenty years of imprisonment.

*(The underlined words were declared unconstitutional by judgment of the Court of Constitutionality dated October 24, 2017, File 5986-2016).

If, as a consequence of the acts to which this law refers, other criminal offenses have been consummated, the rules of concurrence of crimes shall apply.