MOSCOW, November 3 (RAPSI) – The State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, adopted in the first reading on Thursday a government bill giving first-time offenders convicted of drug possession a reprieve for medical treatment.

The reprieve can be granted to offenders convicted for the first time of use, possession or manufacture of drugs for personal use; illegal cultivation of narcotic plants; and illegal distribution or falsification of recipes for narcotic drugs.

Abovementioned crimes fall under the category of minor offences and are usually resulted in noncustodial types of punishment, an explanatory note to the bill says.