European Drug Laws: the Room for Manoeuvre

The full report of a comparative legal research into national drug laws of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Sweden and their relation to three international drugs conventions

Edited by

Nicholas Dorn and Alison Jamieson
With contributions by an international legal research team
Yann Bisiou (France), Tom Blom (the Netherlands), Lorenz B8flinger (Germany), Maria Luisa Cesoni (Italy), José Luis de la Cuesta and Isidoro Blanco (Spain), and Josef Zila (Sweden)

Preface: purpose and acknowledgements

PART I. OVERVIEW: DIVERSITY IS THE RULE

Chapter 1. Synthesis: national drug laws compared and contrasted. Nicholas Dorn

PART II. NATIONAL LAWS: ON DRUG USE, POSSESSION AND SUPPLY

Main headings in chapters 2-7

Chapter 2. Spain: non-criminalisation of possession, graduated penalties on supply. José Luis de la Cuesta and Isidoro Blanco

Chapter 3. Italy: plebiscite on drug possession, anti-mafia laws against supply. Maria Luisa Cesoni

Chapter 4. France: drug use and supply illegal, possession undefined — situation unsatisfactory? Yann Bisiou

Chapter 5. The Netherlands: criminalisation plus expediency, and the special case of cannabis. Tom Blom

Chapter 6. Germany: criminalisation with diversion for possession, with regional variations. Lorenz Bollinger 

Chapter 7. Sweden: hard on the user, soft on trafficking? Josef Zila   

PART III. INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS AND NATIONAL LAW-MAKING

Chapter 8. International drug conventions, national compliance and UN commentaries: the shaming mechanism. Alison Jamieson

Chapter 9. International drug conventions, constitutional limitations and national interpretations. Nicholas Dorn

Chapter 10. Conclusion: three modest proposals for the UK. Nicholas Dorn and all the contributors.