Rue Belliard 97
c/o European Parliament
Rem 5.08
1040 BRUSSELS
Tel:+32-2-230.41.21 - 646.26.31
Fax:+32-2-230.36.70
E-mail: cora.belgique@agora.stm.it
========================================
>>>
> =======NEWS FROM CORA=======
>
> CORA COORDINATION OF RADICAL ANTIPROHIBITIONISM
>
> VIII CONGRESS:
>
> BRUSSELS, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, DEC. 5-7, 1996
>
> THE FLOGGING OF DRUGS IS THE FLOGGING OF ILLEGAL
>
> DRUGS IS THE FLOGGING
>
> OF PROHIBITIONIST LAW.
>
> PROHIBITIONISM IS HARMFUL, AND IT HAS FAILED.
Drugs, before being banned by law, were a localized phenomenon in a geographic, cultural, and social sense. Because of the prohibitionist laws, today they constitute one of the greatest scourges of the planet and place at risk the life of every citizen and institution. There does not exist a society, culture, or institutional system, of either the most ferocious and repressive brand or sweetest tolerance, that can confront the destructive power of prohibitionism; the maximum result obtained by a politics of tolerance is that of easing the health problems of addicts and, in a minimal way, the petty crimes associated with drugs.
The prohibitionist system, which should have extirpated cultivation, impeded the production and avoid the consumption of certain substances, has produced more harm than that which could be caused by those same substances.
Who remains in the world that will not admit such a thing?
The same national ministers and international agencies that specialize in the war against drugs ratify in their studies and reports that:
- those who have died of overdoses have died because they ingested drugs whose quantity and quality are unknown;
- the diffusion of sieropositivity and AIDS among intravenous drug users is in direct relation to the repressive character of laws;
- the greater part of petty crimes are not an effect of the drugs themselves, but of the necessity of procuring greater sums of money to acquire substances whose production cost is minimal;
- the war against drugs has astronomical and uncontrolled costs, and failed results;
- at least 30% of the money spent on administering justice is spent on prisoners who have committed drug crimes, and that an analogous percentage of human energy, tribunal finances, and police expenses are removed from the guaranteed security of citizens;
- drug trafficking is the most profitable criminal activity, and that which is most destabilizing for the legal economy of the planet and for democracy in various countries; it is strongly suspect that in many countries the drug traffickers do not limit themselves to influencing the political class by directly substituting it.
It is urgent and indispensable to conceive of an alternative politics to weaken this metastasis to the economy, to democracy, and to law.
Since human nature is not perfect, we are aware of the fact that it is impossible to eliminate the use and abuse of drugs from society. We are nonetheless convinced that our political option of legalization would at least inform those who consume drugs on the quantity and composition of the drugs they use by legal means, without becoming accomplice of the criminality that today controls the drug market. It would be possible to campaign openly and directly about drugs, which is the only way for effective dissuasion.
Just as prohibitionism is the translation of a moral sentiment diffused and found in prohibition and sanction of the incapacity to govern problems, antiprohibitionism is the translation of scientific evidence that recognizes in repressive action the majority of the harm that is done by drugs. These harms are inflicted upon the consumers, the economy, the justice system, to rights and to democracy.
If you do not want antiprohibitionism to end because of inertia, or suffocated by the reasons and proofs that continually accumulate in its favor, it is necessary that the antiprohibitionists organize themselves in order to win this war for civility.
>>>
> CORA: A POLITICAL ORGANIZATION FOR NONVIOLENT AND DEMOCRATIC STRUGGLE
>
CORA, or the Coordination for Radical Antiprohibitionism, was a protagonist of Italian political life, along with the Transnational Radical Party and the Club Pannella-Reformists, that across civil, democratic and nonviolent struggle for the change of prohibitionist drug laws.
In 1989 it promoted the formation of the "Antiprohibition list against political and communal crime," which obtained half a million votes and a seat in European elections, and, as a result, seats in various Italian towns and provinces.
The most significant action, in 1991, was the promotion of a national referendum to abolish the sentencing to prison of those accused of consuming illegal drugs: in two months, along with the Transnational Radical Party, 730,000 authenticated signatures were collected. On April 18th, 1993, 55% of Italians voted in favor of the abolition of these criminal penalties. The Italian authorities are currently considering the legitimacy of a referendum for the legalization of soft drugs.
Besides the referenda, there have been numerous candlelight vigils, fastings, and manifestations. Many of us have been arrested by intentionally turning themselves in, such as the actual European Commissioner Emma Bonino( a member of CORA since its foundation) did on November of 1990 and February of 1991, in New York, for distributing syringes to drug addicts. Or as radical antiprohibitionist leader Marco Pannella has done, who in 1973 was arrested for demonstrating a piece of hashish at a press conference, and over the last year completed three acts of civil disobedience. his first trial will open on December 6th, the second day of the CORA congress.
>>>
> THE VIII CORA CONGRESS IN BRUSSELS.
> FROM DEC. 5TH THROUGH DEC. 7TH TO ORGANIZE
> THE ANTIPROHIBITIONISTS OF EUROPE.
With this story, experience, and capacity of struggle and proposal, we have decided to relaunch the antiprohibitionist organization and struggle throughout Europe.
We have chosen to operate on a dimension which, from a political and geographical point of view, is that which consents a real and profound change on drug-related politics. The changes that are obtainable at a national level are nonetheless limited by the pressures of the bordering nations and the limited pretexts of national sovereignty that derive from the international conventions that are in effect. The European union, especially if in a federated sense, could possibly constitute the "supranational" interlocutor for a strong democratic and nonviolent struggle.
It is upon these presuppositions that, on Dec. 5th at 3.30 pm, the works of the VIII CORA Congress for radical antiprohibitionism will open in the European Parliament in Brussels. Among the first to speak will be the European Commissioner Emma Bonino, the leader of the antiprohibitionists Marco Pannella, and economist and former Italian Minister of foreign Affairs Antonio Martino; in the meanwhile we await the confirmation of Nobel laureate Prigogyne, the first signer of a CORA appeal to the Belgian Parliament, of the Spanish philosopher Fernando Savater, of international liberal vice-president Carlos Albertos Montaner, and honorary director of the American magazine National Review William F. Buckley. Parliamentarians from many nations have already confirmed their participation.
On the afternoon of Friday, Dec. 6th, there will be a round table, with European doctors and experts, that will denounce the effect of drug prohibition: the prohibition of cures, that is, the inability for doctor's to intervene on behalf of science and conscience.
Beginning with this willingness to assist in the proceedings and that which we will acquire from now until Dec. 5th, will constitute the European Organization of Antiprohibitionists, the CORA of 1997.
It is both important and urgent to place your name, and available time and money at the disposition of this political initiative in order to immediately remedy the continued flogging of illegal drugs.
>>>
> TO ANNOUNCE YOUR PARTICIPATION FILL OUT THIS FORM AND SEND IT BY FAX ( ) OR E-MAIL ( )
( ) I will participate in all three days of the congress
( ) I will participate only Thursday Dec. 5th ( 3.30 - 7 pm)
( ) I will participate in the Friday Dec. 6th, morning session (9 am-1 pm)
( ) I will participate in the Friday Dec. 6th afternoon session ( 3.30 - 7.00 pm)
( ) I will participate in the Saturday, Dec. 7th session (9.30 a.m. - 1 pm)
- for those who are participating from a European nation other than Belgium, economic assistance will be provided in accordance with its limited availability.
>>>
>=======NEWS FROM THE WORLD=======
>
EU * From the report of the European Drug Observatory: one percent of the population of the European Union regularly uses heroin, and 0.5 percent of the population are addicts. The consumers of marijuana are estimated to oscillate between 5% and 16%. European Commissioner for the politics of consumers, Emma Bonino, in comments on the report, made it known that she favored the legalization of certain drugs.
(THE TIMES, NEUE ZUERCHER ZEITUNG, 09/10; LE FIGARO, INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE, 10/10; THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 11/10; THE EUROPEAN 16/10)
LUXEMBOURG * Luxembourg is the nation of the European Union with the highest percentage of addicts, at five per one thousand citizens. Under the initiative of the Green Parliamentarian Renee Wagener, the deputies have voted in favor of a resolution that would open negotiations with Belgium and Holland to establish in the BeNeLux a "free smoking" zone for cannabis. The Minister of Justice has declared himself in favor of such a law.
(PANORAMA 17/10)
SPAIN * The Drug Commissioner, Jose' Manuel Rodriguez, hopes that the new law of autonomous community in Andalusia will bring an end to the sale of tobacco and alcohol to minors.
(EL PAIS 22/10)
U.S.A * A proposal by President Clinton suggests that all the teenagers who intend to take a test for a driver's license must also take a test that verifies whether or not they use drugs.
(INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE, 21/10)
WORLD * Chocolate contains a substance resembling that of caffeine, which exerts a stimulating influence on the central nervous system. Numerous pharmacologists sustain that chocolate acts on the brain in much the same way as marijuana.
(LA STAMPA, 23/10)
U.S.A * A speech by European Commissioner Emma Bonino, that sustains the necessity of legalizing soft drugs in European countries, is responded to by Joseph. A Califano Jr., president of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at New York's Columbia University, and ex- minister of public health. " Legalization would be a disaster for European children and adolescents."
(INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE, 18/10)
SWITZERLAND * The Phenix Foundation, a Genevan organization that sustains the necessity of legalizing soft drugs in the nations of Europe, and financed by the federal government and the local health insurance agencies, has published its latest budget for the substitution of drugs with methadone treatment. The results, in comparison with those of 1992: the number of siero-positive patients decreased from 30% to 14%; delinquency diminished 9 87% of patients did not return to jail, and, among the remaining 13%, the majority were in jail for crimes committed before their treatment). 70% of the patients abandoned heroin use; the remaining number use an average of 4.3 doses per month. 97% no longer share needles, and overdoses have diminished by 98%.
(LE NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR 30/10)
MEXICO * President Ernesto Zedillo has declared: "Until the demand for drugs in America remains at the same, high level and the profit margins for drug dealers remain at this rate, the incentive to traffic drugs will not decrease. Nonetheless, there is no possibility that Mexico will become like Colombia, where drug traffickers have spent millions of dollars infiltrating institutions and corrupting the government and juridical system."
(INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE 24/10)
FRANCE * The French state has always subsidized the international organization " Le Patriarche" for the assistance of drug addicts: they gave 5 million francs in 1996, 6 million in 1995, 7 million in 1994, and 8 million in 1993. This year the organization was scandalized after a Parliamentary report on the Seven inserts "Le Patriarche" among the "sects with between 2.000 and 10.000 followers." The opacity of administration and methodology of the organization have also been the subject of various attacks.
(LE MONDE 24/10)
COLOMBIA * Five days after his "dismissal," the Office of the Prosecutor has ordered the arrest of former Prosecutor General of Colombia, Orlando Vasquez, for suspicion of financing his 1994 electoral campaign with 200.000 narco-dollars he received from the Cali drug cartel.
(NEUE ZUERCHER ZEITUNG, 24/10)
GERMANY * In the first semester of 1996 the percentage of Ecstasy consumers has grown to 37.8%, surpassing for the first time heroin consumers (35.4%) and cocaine users (19.9%). From January to September 481.087 Ecstasy pills were sequestered, an increase of 131% over the same period last year.
(FRANFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG, 25/10)
GERMANY * Nino Wessling died at the age of fifteen by "gassing" himself: he was dependent upon the butane gas found in canisters of camping equipment. It seems that young people have discovered this as a new system with which to drug themselves.
(DER SPIEGEL, 30/10)
SPAIN * The anti-drug prosecutor, Enrique Abad, sustained before the Congreso de los Diputados that the banking institutes do not cooperate enough with the justice system in the fight against the laundering of money that originates in drug dealing.
(EL PAIS, 30/10)
SWITZERLAND * Next December 1st the citizens of Zurich and Winterthur must pronounce their opinion on the continued controlled distribution of heroin.
(NEUE ZUERCHER ZEITUNG, 01, 04/11)
U.S.A.* 56% of Californians voted in favor of a referendum that legalizes marijuana for medical use.
(News clippings of various dates after Nov. 5th)
