It makes sense to differentiate penalties for drug offenses, according to Justice Minister Madis Timpson (Reform).

"To put it simply, current penalties for drug-users and dealers are in some cases quite similar. However, drug policy makers have found that harsh punishment of drug users does not help to change their behavior or reduce their addiction. It makes sense to differentiate penalties so that the harshest consequences are applied to those who seek to enrich themselves at the expense of the health of others, and the lighter penalties are applied to those who use drugs themselves," Timpson said.

He said the new approach would make it possible to deal with minor drug offenses quicker, for example, through an abridged procedure. It would also make it possible to have an impact on people who would be suspected of drug offenses, but they simply had drugs for personal use.

Approximately 40 percent of substance misuse offenses result in real imprisonment, 30 percent in conditional sentences without behavioral control, and 30 percent in conditional sentences with behavioral control or community service.

Prosecutor's office wants more flexibility in solving drug crimes

According to the analysis, it is also worth considering raising the upper threshold for the substance beholders – up to 10 doses. This would reduce the number of cases that qualify for high-quantity possession.

"Another argument in favor of raising the upper threshold is that individuals typically handle small quantities of substances in a less hazardous form. These are buyers and holders of substances for their own use. At the same time, the current high threshold is well below the quantities regularly ingested by people who use stronger drugs. In other words, the law seems to be directing us away from treating and towards punishing people who are addicted and need support to break their addiction," Krister Tüllinen, adviser at the criminal policy department of the Ministry of Justice, said.

Statistics on drug use in Estonia show that the current sentencing policy is not helping to reduce drug use, Tüllinen said, adding that many European countries that have studied the impact of changes in sentencing grades on levels of drug use, using cannabis as an example, have not shown that reducing sentences leads to higher levels of use.

In addition, studies have not shown a correlation between reduced penalties and increased public health harms. Similarly, the department said that the experience of other countries does not support the argument that increasing penalties would reduce drug use.

More flexibility is needed in dealing with drug offenses, according to the State Prosecutor's Office.

Chief State Prosecutor Taavi Pern said that it must be possible to solve the problems that lead to drug use while ensuring that crime never pays off at the expense of people's lives and health.

"Large-scale importers and wholesalers must be subject to consistent and severe condemnation, as their criminal behavior is usually deterred only by imprisonment and confiscation of the proceeds of crime. It is therefore necessary to define more clearly the threshold above which offenders can be punished with the most severe penalties for drug offenses – six to twenty years or life imprisonment," Pern said.

At the same time, according to Pern, it should be also possible to solve less serious drug offenses already in pre-trial stages.

As a next step, the Ministry of Justice, in cooperation with partner institutions and stakeholders, will develop a draft bill. In it, the ministry will propose different ways of differentiating drug-related offenses.

The development plan will be ready by the end of this year.

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