A/HRC/42/39/Add.1 able to locate a guarantor, as they do not have a relative who was willing or able to provide a guarantee, and they have therefore not been able to benefit from such transfers. 68. In addition, according to some interviewees, if a detainee for whom a guarantee has been provided absconds from the place of detention, the guarantor will be detained until the detainee is located. The detention of a person who provides a guarantee but has not committed any criminal offence is inherently arbitrary. The Working Group recommends that the Government immediately cease that practice. Alternatives to such detention exist, including requiring the guarantor to forfeit a bond if the detainee does not meet the terms of a decree or order. 10. Remission of sentences 69. Since 2013, any prisoner who is assessed by the good conduct review committee operating in each prison as having demonstrated good conduct while serving a sentence will be eligible for a reduction (or remission) of their sentence by one month in each year. The initiative is an example of a positive detention practice, as it allows for the earlier release of prisoners who have demonstrated through their good behaviour that they have been rehabilitated and are ready to be reintegrated into society. The granting of remission also represents important progress for the Government in strengthening rehabilitative and reformative programmes for inmates, as envisaged in its twelfth Five Year Plan. 70. However, the granting of remission does not take into account the period of time in which a person was detained in a police station. According to testimony received, some detainees are held in police stations for lengthy periods – in initial police custody, during pretrial detention, while awaiting trial, following conviction (until their transfer to a prison facility) and pending the hearing of appeal proceedings. As a result, despite having spent a period of detention in a police station, detainees do not gain the benefit of remission for that time. In some cases, detainees effectively have to choose between appealing their case, which may entail a further waiting period in police custody, and not pursuing the appeal so that they can be transferred to a prison facility where the period of detention is taken into account in calculating remission of the sentence. 71. Moreover, remission only extends to detainees who have entered into a remission agreement for good conduct. The Working Group was informed that signature of such an agreement usually takes place once the detainee is transferred to a prison. The granting of remission should automatically apply to all detainees who have demonstrated good conduct and should be based upon all of the time that a person has spent in detention, including time spent at a police station. B. Deprivation of liberty in the context of drug control 72. Drug and alcohol addiction is a serious and growing concern across Bhutan. It is clear to the Working Group that there is strong political will on the part of the authorities to effectively address that problem. This should be done in full respect of all human rights and through health-related policies. Bhutan should avoid criminalization of consumption and detention of substance consumers. 73. There are several issues of concern to the Working Group in relation to drug-related detention. According to statistics provided by the Royal Bhutan Police, 530 people were subject to criminal proceedings for drug offences across the country in 2018. The Working Group interviewed many detainees who had been charged with or convicted of drug-related offences, particularly in relation to the personal possession and consumption of psychotropic drugs, such as Spasmo Proxyvon Plus (SP+). According to section 85 of the Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances and Substance Abuse Act, 2015, an agency designated by the Bhutan Narcotics Control Authority may conduct drug testing of any person who causes a public nuisance or poses a probable risk to the public and is suspected on reasonable grounds of having consumed or of consuming any substances controlled under the Act in any public place. There appears to be no judicial control of the circumstances in which an agency or the police may obtain a blood or urine sample, which can be obtained without a warrant. The Working Group was informed that persons arrested on suspicion of having committed a drug 13