U.S.
According to a recent study of the Argonne National Laboratory, over 70% of $1 bills have traces of cocaine, because they are used to sniff it.
(IL MESSAGGERO, LA REPUBBLICA 10/09)
AFGHANISTAN
An objective of the United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) is to cease Afghanistan heroin production. Last August the Talebans announced the prohibition of heroin and hashish cultivation, trafficking and consumption, but not that of opium. UNDCP is ready to finance the conversion of opium fields into fruit production, but wants a firm prohibition of drugs from the Talebans.
COLOMBIA
Jorge Ramon Elias Nadet, President of the Colombian Senate from 1993 to 1994, has consigned himself to the police after an arrest mandate for corruption was issued against him. He is accused of having received some $510,000 from the Cali Cartel for a period previous his election.
(LE MONDE 05/06)
MEXICO
The Governmental efforts to fight the drug trafficking are continuously challenged. Three pilots of the General Prosecutor's office have been arrested and other 15 officials are in custody with the accusation of having used an official airplane to transport 60 kilos of cocaine from Chiapas to Mexico City.
(EL PAIS 09/09)
GREAT BRITAIN
A teen-ager drug addict, that used to spend some 1,000 pounds on cocaine and ecstasy per week, has been taken on vacation by his parents to the Gulf of Mexico. Once there the parents have confiscated his passport and left the son in a place where drug traffickers are decapitated and is difficult to find the stuff.
(THE TIMES 07/09)
ITALY
Rehabilitation communities will change. According to a project of the Ministry of Health, the future will reserve smaller structures, like houses for small families and observations centers for brief periods.
(IL MESSAGGERO 09/09)
BOLIVIA
Under US pressure, the Government and some local farmers have decided to destroy 7,000 hectares of cocaine plants by the end of the year. The US has threatened Bolivia - a country with high debts - its "certification" status and has proposed sanctions.
(SUDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG 04/09)
GERMANY
The experiment of selling hashish in pharmacies, voted in Slesien, has failed. The Federal Institute of Pharmacy has rejected for the second time the proposal of the local Government (center-left), which sets the possibility to sell up to 5 grams a day to individuals over 16 years of age.
(FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG, SUEDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG 05/09)
LATIN AMERICA
Cocaine production, with the massive use of chemical substances, damages fields and rivers of Latin American countries. The alarm comes from IBAMA, the Brazilian Agency for the Environment. Where cocaine is produced, chemical industries reign. Consequences are: animal species threatened, natural sources polluted, climate modified. The excessive fertilization of the fields and pesticides ruins the earth and the erosion augments. Attempts to persuade farmers to cultivate legal products have failed.
(SUDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG 05/09)
GERMANY
Hamburg - The judiciary considers the sanitary presidia - in which under specific conditions narcotics are distributed - legitimate. Such centers are located and operate in Frankfurt and Hannover.
(SUDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG 05/09)
BELGIUM
During the fiscal year 1997/1998, black market activities (labor, drug trafficking, and prostitution) will be included in the GNP. According to a representative of the National Bank, this inclusion (around 20%) is contained in an EU norm. The question is how one can estimate these activities. Belgian authorities are studying appropriate methods.
(DIE PRESSE)
SWITZERLAND
Central Switzerland - Of the 18 rehabilitation centers for grave drug-addicts, 3 are in the Bern Canton and 2 in that of Soletta. The 2 Cantons share, from the beginning the policy of the 4 pillars. Argovia Canton, on the other hand, is waiting the evaluation of the current experiments.
(NEUE ZUERCHER ZEITUNG 08/09)
SWITZERLAND
Representatives of the Government, Cantons and Cities that are members of the National Drugs Commission (NDA) oppose the project "youth without drugs". The commission, established in 1996, with the aim of coordinating drug related policies, agrees in retaining that the popular project will have socio-medical and economical catastrophic aspects.
(NEUE ZUERCHER ZEITUNG 09/09)
SOUTH AFRICA
Cape Town is infested of armed criminal gangs and drug traffickers (heroin, crack) that have given the city the worldly highest rate in homicides. The gangs themselves have said that they will turn into lambs for Olympiad's sake.
(L'EVENEMENT DU JEUDI 10/09)
GREAT BRITAIN
At the occasion of the launching of the "National Drugs Awareness Week", the Minister of Public Health, Ms. Tassa Jowell, has asked parents to gather as much information as possible on drugs. To this end the leaflet "Drugs and Solvents - Know the Facts" has been distributed.
(THE TIMES 09/09)
MEXICO
The Minister for Foreign Relations, Mr. Jose' Angel Gurria, has announced that Mexico, in order to change the US unilateral "certification" policy, will propose to the UN and to the American States Organization to adopt an international criteria to evaluate the war on drugs. The "certification" inhibits cooperation among States.
(EL PAIS 10/09)
U.S.
"The National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health" is a study issued by the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis), with the aim of individuating factors that could protect young generations from drugs, alcohol, cigarettes and precocious sex. According to the results of the research, a good relationship with parents could be a major deterrent.
(INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE, IL MESSAGGERO 11/09)
U.S.
New York - The consumption of cocaine among prefossionals is precipitously increasing. From 1990 to 1996, according to Daytop Village, a rehab organization, the number of patients that has indicated cocaine as their preferred drug has increased of 133%. The "Managers' drug" is not scaring as heroin, is cheaper and socially accepted.
(L'ESPRESSO 18/09)
GREAT BRITAIN
After uncertainties, following the US example of the "Anti-drugs czar" the new figure of the coordinator of the anti-drug struggle will start working. In the Government's intentions, the coordinator should "assure a national as well as an international coordination". The Foreign Ministry would rather limit the action of the subject to national situations.
(FINANCIAL TIMES 03/09)
THE NETHERLANDS
Minister of Health, Els Borst, has presented to the Parliament a project for the distribution of heroin to 750 drug addicts. If the proposal will be approved, the project will have a 2-year duration and will also work as a rehabilitation program. A similar initiative in Switzerland has virtually eliminated criminality among drug addicts. The Dutch project will be bigger.
(THE TIMES 03/09)
WORLD
During his first day as the new UN Undersecretary-General, Mr. Pino Arlacchi, anti-Mafia Sociologist, has illustrated the way in which he will plan the fight against drug trafficking. According to the principle "always follow the money", the first objective of the new strategy will be the abolition of "confidential bank accounts" in all Member States in case of investigations.
(IL CORRIERE DELLA SERA, IL MESSAGGERO 17/09)
AUSTRIA
Austria has ratified the UN Convention on psychotropic substances, as well as the agreement on illegal trade of narcotics. The conventions will start September 21 and October 9.
(FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG 16/09)
GERMANY
According to a research aimed at orienting new prevention policies, many teen-agers and adults consume ecstasy even if they are aware of the dangers related to it. Over 90% of the consumers of ecstasy involved in the study declare to have started with alcohol and cannabis. The first experience with ecstasy occurs between 16 and 18, while for alcohol and cannabis between 13 and 15.
(FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG 16/09)
SWITZERLAND
Ruth Dreifuss, the responsible of Social policies, explains the position of the Swiss Government. "The position of the Federal Council is clear: it rejects both the restrictive idea of the 'Youth without Drugs' initiative, and the liberalization. The Governmental policy of the four pillars is on the other hand a more balanced approach between concrete exigencies and the desire of a world without drugs".
(NEUE ZUERCHER ZEITUNG 15/09)
THE NETHERLANDS
Queen Beatrice is concerned about the increasing number of young consumers of cannabis. During her traditional speech to the Parliament, she has announced that the Government will move the limit from 16 to 18 years of age to buy alcohol and cigarettes. The Queen also asked more information on drug-related risks.
(SUDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG 17/09)
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