Subject: HEAD OF INTERPOL BACKS DECRIMINALIZATION OF DRUGS
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Le Nouvel Observateur, 5.1.94. Vincent Jauvert
Decriminalization is the solution advocated by Robert Kendall, the head of
Interpol, who no longer believes in interdiction. In the first issue of the
year, the cover story in "Le Nouvel Observateur" is entitled "Why the drugs
war is lost", a headline which is not particulary revolutionary in the
current climate of thought. What is more surprisingly, however, is the
basis of the story: a frank interview with the Secretary General of
Interpol, Robert Kendall.
Kendall, who took up the Interpol post in 1985 after being
second-in-command at Scotland Yard, states quite openly that the anti-drugs
strategies of the Western democracies, centred entirely on interdiction, is
destined for failure. Drawing a conclusion from this observation, which
other leading figures have been making for a long time, Kendall invites the
Western governments to realise that "the only way to undermine the market
is to drastically reduce demand." He believes that we must see that
"whatever the efforts of the anti-drugs agencies, the producers and
traffickers will continue to prosper while there are millions of users in
our countries." Kendall then goes on to give some advice to the
authorities. We should follow the example of Sweden, a country which has
invested "considerable amounts in information campaigns and in assistance
programmes for drug addicts, with the result that drug use has fallen
drastically."
Kendall, who has spent thirty years of his life fighting the drugs traffic,
thinks that Charles Pasqua's proposal to attack the drug-producing
countries by military means is unrealistic, not to say grotesque. Do you
believe, he asks, that the recent elimination of Pablo Escobar will change
things? Absolutely not. The Medellin cartel "has already been replaced by
the Cali cartel."
We can't hope for "significant results in this area in the short term, or
even in the long term," says Kendall, if the socio-economic conditions in
the producer countries do not change.
As far as the fight against the laundering of drug profits is concerned,
Kendall is rather sceptical: it is not an end in itself, he says, but "a
simple tool which is not, let's face it, very effective."
It is therefore entirely logical that the Secretary General of Interpol
should conclude the interview by advocating the depenalization of "all"
drugs. This opinion is echoed by lawyer Francis Caballero in an article
published in "Le Monde" on 5 January, part of a dossier on drugs in Europe.
Caballero writes that France, one of the countries which is least open to
discussion on the subject, seems to be moving finally towards a policy of
"harm reduction". Exactly what such eminent figures as Nobel prize winner
Milton Friedman, philosopher Isabelle Stengers, psychiatrist Thomas Szaca
and public prosecutor Georges Apapp, among others, have been asking for
without having to wait for Raymond Kendall.
