000509 26/02/99
EUROPE / RUSSIA
ADDICTION
CORRIERE DELLA SERA
/ /
Brain surgery can cure drug addicts. In S'Petersburg 112 people have already undergone this new and widely criticised operation. The surgeons assure that it's just like 'pulling a tooth' and that it has nothing to do with lobotomy.
000516 02/03/99
E.U. / NL
ADDICTION
SUEDDEUTSCHE Z.
/ /
In Holland there is an employment agency that finds jobs only for drug addicts. Top Score employs them for cleaning jobs organizing them in groups. They are forbidden to take drugs during their work hours, and if this happens the whole group takes the blame.
000517 02/03/99
E.U. / GERMANY
ADDICTION
FRANKFURTER / NEUE ZUERCHER Z. / SUEDDEUTSCHE Z.
/ /
The 1998 official report on drugs says that in Germany deaths for drug consumption have risen by 11,5% in relation to 1997 (for a total of 1674) and that new consumers have risen by 1,7%. Cannabis is the most used substance, ecstasy remains stable while tobacco and alcohol consumption are going up (especially the latter).
000518 01/03/99
E.U. / FRANCE
ADDICTION
LE FIGARO
/ /
Marie-Crisitne D'Welles's book 'Si on parlait du hashish' has just been published. The writer has interviewed 28 adolescents and intends to put all parents on alert: the kids smoke hashish but don't disdain mushrooms, LSD and ecstasy.
000503 25/02/99
E.U. / ITALY
CONSUMERS
IL GIORNALE
/ /
The State Council has readmitted into service an exice officer who had been suspended from service because he was caught smoking a joint duting a party. The reason is that 'you can't lose your job for a stupid mistake'.
000508 01/03/99
AMERICA / VENEZUELA
DISCOVERIES
DER SPIEGEL
/ /
Venezuelan researchers have discovered a special fungus that breeds on coca leafs. It is as small as a grain of sand and is a distant relative of the 'aspergillus' family. It is capable of destroying entire coca plantations without damaging other plants.
000515 28/02/99
AFRICA / MAROCCO
DRUG MAFIA
EL PAIS
/ /
Police reports say that hashish traffic is no longer controlled by German, Spanish and Italian organisations. It is now in the hands of the Moroccans, aided by famous lawyers.
000506 24/02/99
E.U. / SPAIN
INITIATIVE
EL PAIS
/ /
The spanish project of controlled distribution of heroin has been temporarily stopped. The Junta Internacional de Fiscalizacion de Stupefacientes says it is better to wait and see the results from the OMS on the experiments in course.
000504 25/02/99
E.U. / GB / SWANSEA
JURISPRUDE NCE
SUEDDEUTSCHE Z.
/ /
Although Prince Charles is favourable to therapeutic use of cannbis, a Welsh man has been condemned to a year in prison for having grown it and used it. It is the only effective pain killer against gout.
000505 01/03/99
AMERICA / USA
JUSTICE
HERALD TRIBUNE
/ /
In the United States a person is arrested for drug related crimes every 20 minutes and a new prison is built every week. Ten years ago people arrested for drugs were half the number they are today. The crack phenomen one xploded in 1980, but since then laws on drugs are still the same. In no other country in the world are so many people kept in jail and only Russia spends more money than the USA for the prisons.
000514 01/03/99
E.U. / ITALY
JUSTICE
IL SOLE 24 ORE
/ /
The ISTAT has published the official figures concerning drug realted crimes. Every 100 thousand inhabitants in cities of a population above 300 thousand there have been 45 denouciations in 1984, 155 in 1994, 124 in 1996 and 134 in 1997.
000507 27/02/99
E.U. / SPAIN
PREVENTION
FRANKFURTER
/ /
DHS, the Observatory on drug addiciton, has asked that a more incisive intervention to prevent all kinds of addiction be financed with the taxes from alcohol, tobacco and lotteries.
000510 27/02/99
E.U. / ITALY
WAR ON DRUGS
LA STAMPA / LA REPUBBLICA
/ /
During a congress organised by the UN, Mr. Pino Arlacchi, the UN's delegate for fighting drugs, has renewed his proposal for an international agreement to abolish bank secrecy. 'International crime is organised like multinationals are, while States are isolated'.
000511 04/03/99
AMERICA / CUBA
WAR ON DRUGS
L'ESPRESSO
/ /
The former Mexican President, Carlos Salinas, is hiding in Cuba. This is what Cuban authorities declare, without adding anything else to not intrude in a free citizen's privacy. Salinas is suspected of having made his wealth through collaboration with the drug cartels. In Cuba drug traffickers are sentenced to death, while corruptors are protected.
000512 26/02/99
AMERICA
WAR ON DRUGS
HERALD TRIBUNE
/ /
During a heraing with the Government on the concession of a certificate of committment in the fight against drugs to be given to Mexico, the Head of the US Drug Enforcement Administration painted a gloomy portray of the situation saiyng that Mexican traffickers have created serious security problems for the USA.
000513 27/02/99
AMERICA
WAR ON DRUGS
FINANCIAL TIMES
/ /
The annual report by the International Narcotics Control Strategy says that coca cultivations have diminished in Bolivia and Peru, while they have risen in Colombia, particularly in the areas controlled by the rebels. And Mexico continues to be the main route for cocaine towards the United States.
000519 08/03/99
AMERICA / BOLIVIA
WAR ON DRUGS
NEWSWEEK
/ /
Even though Colombia has recieved a 'certificate' from the USA for its commitment to fight drugs, the presence of traffickers and coca plantations is still consistent. US and Colombian agents have arrested 19 members of an organisation worth 100 million Usd and that controled its trafficking via Internet.
SINGAPORE - Dr. Chee Soon has been arrested for having sent out an email in support of the Internet conference on drugs. This conference is an alternative to the official Interpol one that is being held in Rangoon.
ITALY - These are the comments to the exclusion of drug related crimes from depenalisation of minor offences enacted by the Senate: Green Party: 'We will distribute marijuana in Parliament'; Forum Droghe: 'A ridiculous comedy'; Ersilia Salvato (senator of 'Democratici di Sinistra'): 'A present for the right-wing opposition'.
