ABSTRACT: We reprint here the appeal of the Radicals for the immediate replacement or radical modification of Law 685. The list of the first hundred signers follows.
(ARGOMENTI RADICALI, A POLITICAL BI-MONTHLY FOR AN ALTERNATIVE, November 1979 - January 1980, no. 14)
The problem of heroin is in danger, as a few have foreseen and many feared, of becoming a marginal problem: much was said about it, nothing was done to solve it, and finally nothing more is being said about it. The Minister of Health, after his sensational declarations at the end of the summer, continues to "study" the problem without having the courage to face it seriously. The press itself, after the autumn alarm, by now dedicates meagre war bulletins to the question which announce the ever more numerous deaths.
The public and the parties tend to forget and to exorcise the problem by hiding behind other, greater worries. Thus the question of heroin is relegated to the minor, endemic evils.
In reality, a state that indicates its indifference (but perhaps it is not impotent) towards a phenomenon that involves more than 100,000 people and is beginning to kill not dozens any more but hundreds, reveals that it is incapable of being of service to the citizens with regard to this "small" problem too, above all to the weakest of them.
For this reason we believe that the current Law 685 should be immediately replaced or radically modified. And we consider important the initiative taken by a group of Radical and Socialist deputies.
That initiative breaks the silence in a concrete manner that some are trying to create around the drug problem. And it breaks it with a bill capable of setting into motion a change in the situation.
The bill that has been presented, and is open to changes and constructive contributions, contains several original and substantial principles: the defence against death; an attack on the black market; the right to health and free choice; the liberation of hundreds of youths condemned for the use of substances (such as the derivatives of cannabis) much less harmful than others, even legal ones.
We ask the political forces to assume their responsibility. We ask, independently of judgements of merit, that Parliament immediately discuss the proposed bill on drugs.
The first hundred signers of the appeal
"Leonardo Sciascia, Adriano Buzzati Traverso, Giorgio Benvenuto (Secretary General of the UIL) (1), Enzo Mattina (National Secertary of the FLM) (2), Franco Ferrarotti, Luigi Pintor (Il Manifesto) (3), Giancarlo Arnao, Hayr Terzian, Marco Margnielli, Rosalba Terranova, Pierluigi Cornacchia, Guido Blumir, Roberto Pizzň, Marco Lombardo Radice, Maria Lizza, Michele Risso, Luigi Del Gatto, Luigi Bonito, Miretta Cugli, Graziana Delpierre and Matteo di Capua (of the Narcotics Self-Regulation Association); Carlo Fiordaliso (Secretary General of the UIL-Health); Magistrates: Michele Coiro, Gaetano Dragotto, Gabriele Cerminara, Aurelio Galasso, Franca Marrone, Franco Misiani, Riccardo Morra, Giuseppe Salmé, Luigi Saraceni, Aldo Vittozzi, Gianni Vattimo, Angelo Pezzana (FUORI) (4), Angiolo Bandinelli (Radical Municipal Councilor of Rome), Giuseppe Ramadari (Radical Provincial Councilor of Rome), Francesco Rutelli (Secretary of Latium PR), Franco Corleone (Secretary of the Lombardy PR), Enzo Francone (Secretary of the
Piedmont PR), Rita Cenni (Secretary of the Emilia PR), Sandra Dionisio (Secretary of the Campania PR), Paolo Manzi (Secretary of the Apulia PR), Aligi Taschera, Angelo Foschi (National Drug Co-ordinating Committee of the PR): Angelo Panebianco, Lorenzo Strik Lievers, Mercedes Bresso, Enzo Belli Nicoletti (Argomento Radicali); Paolo Hutter (Radio Popolare of MIlan), Federico Mancini, Guido Martinotti,l Paolo Flores D'Arcais (Mondoperaio Centre, Rome), Giaime Pintor, Ernesto Galli della Loggia, Tina Lagostena Bassi, Nina Marazzita, Roberto Villetti (Avanti!) (5), Enrico Boselli (National Secretary of the FGS) (6), Enrico Mentana (Vice-Secretary of the FGS), Beppe Attene (National Vice-Secretary of the ARCI) (7). From the editorial department of »L'Europeo (8): Lauretta Colonielli, Letizia Maraini, Lauro Ballio, Fiamma Arditi, Alvise Sapori, Maria Giulia Minetti, Lucovico Ripa di Meana, Pasquale Chessa, Angelo Virdň, Antonella Riccio, Barbara Palombelli, Roberto Chiodi, Giuseppe Catalano, Corrado Incerti, Mich
ele Dzieduszycki, Giancarlo Mazzini, Paolo Oietti, Maria Adele Teodori, Franco Scaglia (Radiocorriere) (9), Barbara Alberti (writer), Amedeo Pagani, Monique Husson (ANSA) (10), Marina Mogaloi (GR3) (11), Margareta Steinby, Francesco Dambrosio, Elena Marinucci, the editorial department of »Lotta Continua (12), Felice Piersanti, Lidia Ravera, Mariella Gramaglia, Massimo Miniero and the Naples Intervention Group for Drug Addiction; Fiamma Nirenstein, Silvio Pergameno, Gianpiero Borella (journalist)".
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TRANSLATOR'S NOTES
1) UIL - The Italian Labour Union - Socialist.
2) FLM - The metal workers' federation.
3) Il Manifesto - A small left-wing political party and the newspaper of the same name they publish.
4) FUORI - Acronym for the Italian Revolutionary Homosexual Front (which acronym also is the word for "out").
5) Avanti! - The official Socialist Party daily newspaper.
6) FGS - Socialist Youth Federation.
7) ARCI - The Italian Recreational and Cultural Association.
8) L'Europeo - A popular political-cultural weekly.
9) Radiocorriere - A weekly magazine presenting the radio-TV programmes and related news.
10) ANSA - An important press agency.
11) GR3 - The third state radio program's news service.
12) Lotta Continua - A small far-left political party.
