Antiprohibitionist Action Agency * August 16th, 1996 * 2 - N.5

Antiprohibitionist Radical Coordination

Radical Party Association

OLD Observatory of Laws on Drugs

PAA Parliamentarians for Antiprohibitionist Action

European Campaign for the revision of international conventions

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WORLD NEWS

SPAIN. The magazine "Tiempo" published information on a new substance, "Special k", derivate of an anesthesia like ketamine, often consumed with stimulants. In the United States, it is so well spread that it gave its name to a "generation k". The experts warn for the serious dangers involved in this drug, which is known in Spain as the "drug of the forgetting", allusion to the drug's properties capable of wiping out recently lived episodes. The memory disappears with this "trip" of the end of the week and what happens is only an unpresentable reality, wiped away the following weekend. (EL PAIS, 25/07)

THE NETHERLANDS. The consumption of soft drugs as well as the sale of narcotics became a serious problem for the Dutch army. The Secretary of State, Meijling, declared that the professional soldiers, found in the possession of drugs, consumers or vendors, will now risk expulsion of the army. Meijing added that a new code of behavior is being prepared and that it will have to be subscribed by all professional soldiers. In this code, the use of drugs is expressly forbidden. The Navy has yet adopted a similar code two years ago. (FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE, 26/07)

GERMANY. In Berlin, during the last months, the drug victims considerably increased. Whereas during 1995 the police registered 45 deaths, they've already registered 94 during the first semester of this year, in other words, more than twice as many during a period less than half. The reasons for this increase are not clear, moreover while the crimes related to the drugs remained stationary. On the contrary, the cases of material infractions increased strongly: 80% more according to the first semester of 1995. (FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE, 26/07)

CUBA/USA. Some drug traffickers, arrested in the United States last January, revealed to have transported cocaine from La Havana with Fidel Castro's permission. The news was published on July 25th by the United States' police who confiscated three tons of coca. The Cuban governmental functionaries denied immediately and counterattacked saying that numerous people in the US would find it their interest to stir up a blackening campaign against Cuba, in order to create a pretext for an intervention on the island. (EL PAIS, 26/07)

PERU. During its traditional message addressed to the Congress for the independence day, July 28th, President Fujimori announced the suspension of the activities of international commercial transportation executed by the naval and air forces. Motive: to slow down the infiltration of cocaine traffic within the Peruvian armed forces. "We are the first to recognize the gravity of the discovery of drugs in a military plane and in two navy ships". During the month of May, 174 kilograms of cocaine were discovered in the cockpit of a former presidential plane having destinations to France and Russia were reparations of military material should have taken place. Two months later, some hundred kilograms of coca were found on two anchor ships in the ports of Vancouver and Callao. (LE MONDE, 31/07)

COLOMBIA. Two former assistants from President Samper, recently whitewashed from the accusation of having received electoral financing linked with drug money, were condemned for the same crime to 6 and 8 years of prison, for having mixed money received from traffickers with the financing for the President's electoral campaign. The case throws a new shadow on Samper and raises the question of the Colombian juridical system which acquits a person for insufficient proof and condemns two others for the same crime, based on the same indications. (INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE)

ITALY. A new method of drug detoxication came to light in the context of a project put in operation in the public services for drug addicts. It is called G.A.S., weekly reception group, and consists in the reception of groups of young boys and girls who have long addiction histories behind them. They enter usually in this structure to pass the crisis of the abstinence. The therapy consists in the administration of medicine that makes the period of detoxication less painful, by a continuous assistance, by sportive and musical activities and by the struggle in group. (LA STAMPA, 29/07)

AUSTRIA. An entrepreneur from Tyrol is ready to commercialize in the whole world a liquor on the basis of cannabis. The Austrian Federal Office of nutrition control has already authorized the product, baptized by its creator with the name "Hemp Spirit". (LA REPUBLICA, 01/08)

ITALY. Debate on the legalization of soft drugs. Two articles on the first page of the Milanese daily directed by Vittorio Feltri. "Soft drugs: better dissuade than withdraw from circulation", by Luigi Manconi, senator of the Green Party; "No to soft drugs: free smoke only accelerates the renouncing of the conscience", by Renato Farina. (IL GIORNALE 3-4/08)

MOROCCO. A huge police operation organized by the Moroccan authorities in collaboration with the German authorities allowed to dismantle a traffickers network - mainly hashish - that operated between MOROCCO and Germany. The operation started with the arrest of two German citizens who were transporting, on board of a Cesna 206, 500 kilograms of drugs in the direction of Germany. The connections with Berlin have not yet been cleared up. (THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE, 03/08)

COLOMBIA. Research on the networks of big traffickers of Colombian drug cartels. Their parents think to make them the Kennedies from Colombia but the sons from the cocaine cartel from Cali can't escape the past. The sons from Rodriguez are involved in a series of legal affairs, including a pharmacy chain selling products at low prices. The sons from Pablo Scobar live like pachas in a sumptuous residency, while the ones from Gilberto and Miguel pass their holidays filling shelves. Waiting for the war against drug traffic to be continued: the attorney Alfonso Valdivieso succeeded in sequestering more than 100 properties from traffickers' children. (NEWSWEEK, 12/08)

COLOMBIA. Commercial war between the United States and Colombia after the restriction measures with the arrival of the Colombian president Samper in the US. Avianca, the Colombian air company, will probably have to suspend flights between New York and Miami, for the reason that it is not honoring the bilateral agreements of established traffic between the two countries. Indeed, since 1993 already, American Airlines is not flying anymore on the route Bogota-New York, following the political tension between the two countries concerning the drug policy. A temporary suspension in the expectation of the revision of the American restriction policy of movements of the Colombian authorities in the direction of the United States. (INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE, 05/08)

MEXICO. Polemics and exchanges of accusations between the different parties after the forced discharges of Ricardo Cordero Ontiveros from his function of anti-drug agent. In an interview with the Nord American weekly Time, the former Mexican agent sustains that the anti-drug activity from the Mexican government is almost non-existing and that the government itself is doing nothing in the drug war. The leader of the national anti-drug office, Antonio Lozano Garcia, invited him to give proof of his confirmations. Cordera answered saying that he wanted to withhold his proofs, that they are in a safe place and that he will produce them at the opportune moment. (TIME, 12/08)

COLOMBIA. In the heart of the Amazonia, certain areas live entirely in the rhythm of culture, of the sale and the traffic of coca, in the middle of the guerilla and the operations of forced armies. It is a village of gold-diggers, with a gold-diggers' mentality. Fortunately, there is the guerilla because it is thanks to them that a certain order reigns. (LE MONDE, 01/08)

SPAIN. A young historian from Valencia, Juan Carlo Uso, could, thanks to the editor Taurus, publish a volume which carries the title "Drogas y cultura de masas (Espana 1855-1995)". It is an attempt of re-reading of the Spanish society's relation with drugs during the last 150 years. "In Spain we define as illegal what is considered as a sin by the church: like drugs and pornography". (EL PAIS, 05/08)

COLOMBIA/EUROPEAN UNION. In his quality of president of the Non-Aligned Countries, the Colombian President, Ernesto Samper, is doing a series of meetings in France and in Spain. On top of political themes, like the cooperation between the 113 countries and the members of the G7, Samper faces the bilateral questions with France and the EU. This last chapter is very near his heart after the deterioration of his relation with the United States because of the drug traffic question. And indeed, president Chirac announced his support in the struggle against drug traffic. In expectation, the arrests of the people in Sampers entourage, accused of corruption and illegal enrichment thanks to drug traffic money, continue in Colombia. (LE FIGARO 01/08, LE MONDE 02-03/08)

COLOMBIA. Since three weeks, 40-50.000 campesinos, coca cultivators, occupy different municipalities from some regions of the Colombian Amazonia to protest against the destruction of illegal cultures. On August 2nd in Puerto Asis, in the South of Colombia, the demonstrators tried to occupy the airport. The army intervened and one followed. According to a still provisory balance, two people would be killed and others wounded. The campesinos defined their protestation "civil strike". (EL PAIS, 01-04/08, LE MONDE, 04/08)

BRAZIL. Reportage on the distribution of crack in Sao Paulo in Brazil. At the end of the eighties, crack made its appearance in the biggest Brazilian metropolis. Its relatively low cost and the dependence which manifests itself after the third take, favour its distribution. Numerous crack smokers transform into addicts: 70% of the crimes committed in Sao Paulo are linked with this type of drug, a phenomenon which is more expanded than in Colombia. (DER SPIEGEL, 05/08)

SWITZERLAND. The recommendations of the expert commission, having the revision of laws and regulations on drugs as a goal, continue to cause divergent opinions. The most controversial point concerns the depenalization proposition. The revision will in any case have to wait for the results of two popular initiatives on the argument. (NEUE ZURCHER ZEITUNG, 06/08)

SPAIN. The minister of internal affairs made his opinion on the research on what is called vegetal ecstasy public. The Spanish governments deputy to the National Plan on drugs, Gonzalo Robles, denounced that the new drug, in spite of its natural and ecological appearances, involves great health risks, and he burst out against a cultural association in San Sebastian who commercialized it and against the magazine "Verde" that advertised it. (EL PAIS, 06/08)

SWITZERLAND/GERMANY. Laws serve to determine what is legal and what is not. But in the case of the law on narcotics, things are different. In Switzerland, it is possible to administer heroine under medical control, in Germany it is not. Still, the laws are almost identical. What the Swiss government considers necessary from a sanitary and social point of view, faces numerous tabus in Germany. The German government pursues its hard line in spite of the fact that the amount of drug victims is increasing. The Berlin administration and numerous other communities put pressure on Bonn in order to discuss again the problem. It would be good if the Germans inspire themselves on the education of the neighboring Republic in order to understand what they should do. (DIE ZEIT, 09/08)

GERMANY. The confirmation according to which drugs would be capable to enlarge the individual's conscience was until now the apanage of those who drug themselves and has always been contested by the medical world which talked about hallucinations and distortions. Today, however, everything the poets, starting with Baudelaire, have told about their experiences with marijuana or other narcotic substances, is scientifically confirmed by the neurobiology. Cannabis and cocaine are capable of stimulating real sensations, usually enclosed in the hypocamp (median superficies of the cerebral hemisphere) which conserves odors, images, sensations...and kept under control by some sort of interior censor. (DIE ZEIT, 09/08)

SWITZERLAND. Reproduction of last week's article by Toni Bortolozzi, vice-president of the "Jeunesse sans drogue" Association. In this article, the results of the experience of controlled heroine distribution were contested. Felix Gutzwiller and Ambros Uchtenhagen, the project's responsibles respond to Bortolozzi. The experience justifies itself by the high amount of toxicated people. It was wanted by the Federal Council. It refers to analogical experiences done in other countries and during long periods of time (heroine administration in Great-Britain, morphine in the Netherlands). These experiences show that the simple administration of narcotic substances is not sufficient, and that psychological and social supports are necessary. The project has thus been led according to scientific and interdisciplinary criteria. The controls done up to now were under supervision of the OMS. The accusation of shortage of scientific character have to be pushed back, while the approach of those who refuse to take note of

the new concrete facts appear anti-scientific. (NEUE ZURCHER ZEITUNG, 09/08)

COLOMBIA. The Colombian minister of defence, Fernando Botero, was condemned to 5 years of prison under the accusation of having received money from the "Drug Kings" during the presidential electoral campaign of 1994. Pleading guilty, he chose the "compromise" as to the penalty and he will have to pay one million dollars. Initially he declared himself innocent and then accused Samper of having voluntarily taken advantage of dirty money. This one nevertheless denied the facts. The United States had anyway proclaimed Samper "persona non grata", starting with this occasion the exchange phase of hostile propos and of verbal and commercial menaces. (SUEDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG, 12/08)

GERMANY. Research by the German weekly on the drug phenomenon. The number of young drug victims increased considerably during the last two years. The problem is attributed among others to the strong winter and to the weakening of immune defences caused by the drug. The main danger of these substances resides in the first place in their dosage. The price collapse has the consequence of bringing more pure drugs on the market, while before the purity of heroine was inferior because of the mixture with diverse substances, from coffee powder to medicines for fever, passing by different synthetic powders, going to a purity of 20% to one of 70%. A lot of young people inject mixtures of medicine and diverse toxic and chemical substances. The police tries to fight the phenomenon by reinforcing the controls on emigrants outside the UE, Russians, etc, often well integrated in the social structure to the point of deserving the confidence of the young people. The market has never been so profitable: one dose can cost 40

to 50 DM, instead of 200 - 220 from the past. The annual heroine production is about 500 tons, against the demand of only 150 tons. The purity of heroine still increases. (DER SPIEGEL, 12/08)

GREAT-BRITAIN. The Scottish city Glasgow established a sad record: it is the European city with the highest number of gangs and the most elevated drug consumption. It has even been used in a film on the drug environment and on the depression of the youth. The delinquency is equivalent to the one in bigger cities, with the difference that there is no intrusion of foreign elements which can be considered as responsible of the phenomenon of decadence. One of the rare hopes to get out of the tunnel resides in the Center, a way of reinforcing the body and the spirit, a real therapy, according to its responsibles, useful also for those who are already very weak. The drug industry is an increasing industry what aggravates the yet miserable financial and psychological conditions of those who use it, in particular the young people, who also often fall back on different types of medicine. (DER SPIEGEL, 12/08)

ITALY. The Fati, "Financial Action Task force on money laundering" is presided this year by Italy. Among its priorities, the struggle against telematic technologies used to transfer capitals, and in particular, the problem of harmonization of the used means. Only today among the adhering countries, Turkey has no anti-recycling legislation. The efforts of the Italian presidency will have to be concentrated if it wants to obtain a qualitative jump: follow the capitals, step be step, on its trip to complete whitewash. The Arezzo case: a mixture of gold and narcodollars; 1.335 signalizations are one of the consequences of the famous Unigold case. (IL SOLE 24 ORE, 12/08)

SOUTH AFRICA. Explosions of particular strong violence took place this week as well in the suburban areas of Johannesburg as in the poor areas of Cap Town, where the impact with crime recently become very violent. The situation became extremely complicated when some self-organized Arab groups, the "People Against Gangsterism and Drugs", increased their "prevention" presence: they go around with hidden faces and carry weapons, enjoying the favour of the local information bodies. (FINANCIAL TIMES, 11/08)

ITALY. The first dose at the age of 50. Alarm of the Abele group: hundreds of people drug themselves at the threshold of retreat. A number of them used cocaine for years. Then they used the "horse", an explosive mixture that came into fashion after the seventies. Women look for the drug after the desillusions of life, men because they are crushed by professional competition. (LA STAMPA, 11/08)

USA. After the boom years of cocaine, the "brokers" and the staff use more heroine. And the investing banks, in order to avoid stories, return to the help of the former 007. Lately, the alarm went off because the victims from overdoses increased. The alarm was launched be the daily "USA Today" that revealed the secret scandals in an exclusive inquiry.

PANAMA. It is the bankruptcy of the "Banco Agro Industrial y Comercial de Panama" that made emerge a sensitive question still hidden in Central America: the recycling of money coming from the drug traffic. According to the last report of the American minister of Foreign Affairs "the financial institutions of Panama are used for the recycling of dirty money". The deception for the United States is even bigger because they considered the Panamese government as the crucial element of the struggle against drugs. (PANORAMA, 15/08)

MEXICO. The Mexican authorities arrested Pedro Lupercio Serratos, considered as one of the leaders of the drug cartel in Jalisco. His brother and two other people, among whom a former agent of the Federal Judiciary Police, were arrested too. This is one of the most important arrests of all times. (FINANCIAL TIMES, 07/08)

SPAIN. Spain blocked the sale of green ecstasy pills, the excitant on basis of vegetal substances that could be bought quietly and even in herbalist stores. The minister of health made public that the measure was taken in the expectation of verifying the inoffensive character or not of the product. (EL PAIS, 07-08/08, IL GIORNALE, 08/08)

SWITZERLAND. The fear of an improper use of drugs is an obstacle for sick people (in particular cancer) who use it to weaken their pains. This is what a UN study announces. After years of research by the World Health Organization and numerous doctors, the control on opium and its derivates that are part of the hospital stocks, has been reinforced out of fear that the drugs could end up on the clandestine market. Several hospitals didn't respond to the UN's invitations asking to declare their proper reserves of morphine. The legal use of this substance increased from 2 tons in 1972 to 14 tons in 1994. (NEUE ZURCHER ZEITUNG, 07/08)

COLOMBIA. The Colombian government offered an indemnification to the millions of coca cultivators who would destroy their plantations and transform them into fields for the culture of products linked with the production of nutrition. An offer that tries to cut off the waves of violence which shook the country for the last couple of days, culminating in a march of more than 200.000 cocaleros who asked for a blocking of the plantation's weeding, ordered by President Samper. Inquiry on the manner at which 300.000 cocaleros live at the edges of legality and represent the lowest level of illegal traffic. (THE TIMES, 08/08, EL PAIS, 11/08, SUDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG, 12/08)

GERMANY. The Dutch border control tries to limit the "Drug Tourism", in view of the fact that the introduction of narcotics is considered as punishable by law. But the contraband trade of narcotics (hashish and marijuana) is flourishing in spite of the personal controls that the customs officers are able to do. Several people indeed don't even try to hide the drugs, which, if looked for, would be immediately found: they simply declare not to introduce anything. This way, heroine and cocaine see their market being diminished, while the hashish and marijuana markets increase amazingly. Indeed, one of the problems is that the one who introduces the drug is often an "assigned traveller" and not a simple consumer. The customs officers try to collaborate to limit the phenomenon, in view of the fact that in the Netherlands it is easy to procure the hardest drugs for prices defying each competition.

CORA's goal is to organize an antiprohibitionist nonviolent political movement starting with Europe. In view of the VIIIth CORA congress, which will take place next November in Brussels, we would like with these pages to build up a network of contacts and personal disposabilities to change the actual laws on drugs.

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