Celebrity drug users get slap on wrist- no punishment

Mar 03, 2009
TBT staff

Drug scandals could mean the end of many high profile athletes careers.

RIGA - The Latvian police have decided not to punish athletes and high-profile drug users, even though their offense would cost them their careers.

The Riga Regional Criminal Police has identified about ten high-profile figures, including athletes and people appearing in the tabloid press, who have been buying narcotics from two drug dealers who the police detained in early February. Both drug dealers also have been connected to professional sports earlier.

Criminal Police head Ints Kuzis said earlier that the celebrities had been using drugs even in public and their responsibility for the offense will be assessed. Now Kuzis said that the main task is to find out who sold drugs to the two drug-dealers to bust the drug dealing ring.

 
atvian Interior Minister Mareks Seglins does not approve of the decision by police that a slap on the wrist should be all the punishment for the athletes involved in the drug scandal as criminal charges would mean an end to their sports career.

He told BNS that as the minister he did not make inquiries about any specific cases or interfere with the investigation but he found the above-mentioned argument lame because "we have an offense and the Criminal Law sets forth the penalties and procedures to be followed."

"The fact that the person is an athlete, or a farmer, or a motor mechanic must not matter when it comes to following the criminal law procedures against this or that individual. This is not a valid argument," said the interior minister.

When asked whether the police should reconsider its decision, the minister said: "I'm not going to give any orders to the police but but it's a requirement -- one's profession must not be used as an argument when assessing one's potential criminal activities."

On Feb. 6, police detained two 34 and 24 years old drug dealers, seizing 176.5 grams of methamphetamine and 11.6 grams of cocaine from them, worth about 2,461 lats (3,501 euro).

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