TRP ASKS W.H.O. TO PUBLICLY ANSWER TO ALLEGATIONS OF HIDING A COMPARISON STUDY BETWEEN MARIJUANA, ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO

New York, February 24, 1998. Secretary General of the Transnational Radical Party, MEP Olivier Dupuis, and UN Representative Marco Cappato, wrote yesterday to the director of WHO asking clarifications about the February 21, 1998, issue of the British magazine New Scientist, in which is reported that WHO officials in Geneva have suppressed the publication of a politically sensitive analysis that would confirm that marijuana is safer than alcohol or tobacco.

According to the New Scientist: "The comparison was due to appear in a report on the harmful effects of cannabis published last December by the WHO. But it was ditched at the last minute following a lost and intense dispute [...] It is understood that advisers from the US National Institute on Drug Abuse and the UN International Drug Control Programme warned the WHO that it would play into the hands of groups campaigning to legalize marijuana".

For the Transnational Radical Party, if what is reported from the New Scientist is the truth, the seriousness and respectability of WHO, as well as that of the US Administration and UNDCP, would be seriously questioned. If, on the other hand, the allegations are untrue, it would be very unfortunate that they circulate without any kind of official denial or comment from WHO offices.

TRP has drafted some parliamentary interrogations that will be submitted in the next few days in Europe.

The letter has been also sent to: UNSG, Kofi Annan; Director of the UNDCP, Pino Arlacchi; WHO Representative in New York, Andrew J. Joseph; New Scientist's David Concar; Director of National Institute on Drug Abuse, Alan I. Leshner

Transnational Radical Party

For further information and documentation, please contact Marco Cappato