Drug Abuse

Hedy d'Ancona's revised version of the report on the harmonization

of the Member States laws on drugs may be presented at the European

Parliament mini session in Brussels May 27-28. This will enable

Hedy D'Ancona to bring a statement to the United Nations General

Assembly Special Session on Illicit Drugs, to be held in New York

on June 8-10

Here follows the text of the revised Hedy d'Ancona report:

Proposal for a European Parliament recommendation to the Council on

European Cooperation in the Framework of the extraordinary session of

the UN General Assembly on Drugs (UNGASS)

The European Parliament

- having regard to the communication of the European Commission to the

Council and the European Parliament with a view to establishing a common

European Union platform for the special session of the UN General

Assembly on international cooperation in the fight against drugs (COM

(97) 670).

- having regard to the proposal for a recommendation to the Council by

Mrs Aglietta and 60 other Members on the harmonization of the Member

States' laws on drugs (B4-1238/96).

- having regard to Article K6 of the EU treaty,

- having regard to Rule 46(3) of its Rules of Procedure,

- having regard to its resolution of 15 June 1995 on the communication

from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on a

European Commission to the Council and the European Parliament

- having regard to the Joint Action of 17 December 1996 concerning the

approximation of the laws and practices of the Member States of the

European Union to combat drug addiction and to prevent and combat

illegal drug trafficking,

- having regard to the world drug report drawn up by the UN

International Drug Control Programme,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Civil Liberties and

Internal Affairs (A4-0359/97),

- having regard to the 1997 European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and

Drug Addiction Annual Report on the state of the drugs problem in the

European Union;

1. Puts to the Council the following recommendations:

RECOMMENDATION 1 (new)

Recognises, with the European Commission, that drug policies should be

based on the fundamental idea that the problematic drug use is not only

the consequence of individual choices but also the result of social

conditions and the marginalisation of certain groups in society and

stresses, therefore, the necessity to link the fight against poverty,

unemployment and social inequity to the problems of both problematic

drug use and the production of illegal drugs;

RECOMMENDATION 2 (new)

Calls, as does the European Commission in the communication of the UN

General Assembly on Drugs, upon the Council to give higher priority to

the new policy issue of synthetic drugs and to address the threat of

organised crime with regard to drug trafficking;

RECOMMENDATION 3 (formerly recommendation 1)

Notes that the divergent approaches taken to the drugs problem are

currently impeding the harmonization of laws and practices to combat

drug and calls, therefore, on the Council to gear European drugs policy,

both domestic and international, primarily to a tangible improvement in

cooperation between EU institutions, Member States, regions and urban

areas;

RECOMMENDATION 4 (new)

Calls on Member States to, however, give priority to harm and demand

reduction policies;

RECOMMENDATION 5 (formerly 2)

Calls on Member States to improve the extent of cooperation in drug

matters at national, regional and urban level;

RECOMMENDATION 6

Calls on Member States to recognise the discrepancy between the actual

laws on problematic drug use and their application and enforcement in

practice and to address this problem as they see fit;

RECOMMENDATION 7 (new)

Stresses Member States, in line with the communication of the European

Commission to the UN General Assembly on Drugs, to acknowledge the

importance of a balance between ideals with regard to drug policies and

the positive effects of a pragmatic approach;

RECOMMENDATION 8 (formerly 4)

Regards urban and regional policy experiments in the field of harm

reduction, the reduction of demand for drugs and crime prevention as

being of importance in finding new methods to curb the problems

involving drugs;

RECOMMENDATION 9 (formerly 5)

Recognizes the importance of policy experiments in developing countries

for finding new methods to reduce the problems involving drugs,

including the participation of local communities in planning initiatives

for the reduction of drugs consumption and drug-linked crop production;

RECOMMENDATION 10 (formerly 6)

Calls on the Council, in accordance with the programme of Community

action on the prevention of drug dependence and taking into account

national policies and regulations, to allow local and regional

authorities to develop initiatives with regard to harm and demand

reduction on their administrative levels

RECOMMENDATION 11 (formerly 7)

Calls on Members States to do all in their power to ensure that the

right to adequate medical treatment also applies without exception to

those dependent on drugs;

RECOMMENDATION 12

Urges the Council to make more funds available for the prevention of the

demand for drugs as well as for information and education, a

harm-reduction policy and for improvement of the health and care

facilities for those dependent on drugs.

RECOMMENDATION 13 (formerly 9)

Believes that, on the basis of Article 129 of the Draft Treaty of

Amsterdam and the position of the UN International Drug Control

Programme support may be given to treatment programmes which make it

possible for hard drugs to be supplied on medical prescription and

subject to necessary checks;

RECOMMENDATION 14 (formerly 10)

Calls on the Council to make an independent assessment in the Member

States of the results of policy measures in the framework of the UN

Conventions on Drugs;

RECOMMENDATION 15 (formerly 11)

Calls for the European Monitoring Centre for drugs to present a number

of indicators on the basis of which such an assessment can be made;

RECOMMENDATION 16 (new)

Regards with satisfaction the activities of the EMCDDA in the field of

demand reduction and control, calls it to strengthen its researches in

the field of the control and the reduction of the offer;

RECOMMENDATION 17

Calls on the Council at the UN General Assembly on Drugs to be held 8 to

11 June to promote a reform of the UN Conventions of 1961, 1971 and 1988

such that they do justice to different approaches with regard to the

issue of problematic drug use;

RECOMMENDATION 18 (new)

Calls on the European Union to coordinate better its activities on drugs

with the appropriate UN bodies;

RECOMMENDATION 19 (formerly 13)

Calls on the Council to consider the possibility of including the

countries of Central Europe and Cyprus in the REITOX network;

2. Instructs its President to forward this recommendation to the Council

and, for information, to the Commission and the governments of the

Members States.

The report also contains B. Explanatory Statement, including an

Introduction; Developments in Europe; Balance and harmonization; and

Guidelines for the future.