SPAIN - A police official, he also teaches a course in "Specialized Studies on Public Security" at the Academy of Madrid and lectures on police activities in criminology.

ABSTRACT: The author, a police official, suggests the global legalization of drug consumption and traffic. In order to be cured, drug users need the understanding and support of society as well as medical care. Prohibition of traffic and consumption leads to, among other things, functional delinquency and unrest in the cities. A preventive policy accompanied with objective information and education programs would provoke a decrease in the domand for drugs. Moreover, legalization would allow the police to work in cooperation with healt organizations and specialists instead of being occupied with repression.

("THE COST OF PROHIBITION ON DRUGS", Papers of the International

Anti-prohibitionism Forum, Brussels 28th september - 1st october 1988; Ed. Radical Party)

The title itself of this paper might, at least apparently, seem a contradiction in terms, since the word police is - to most people - synonymous with repression.

I have worked with the police, and was for some time assigned to carrying out repressive measures as regards the illicit drug trade. I should like to explain to you how that experience convinced me of the absolute necessity of totally decriminalizing the drug trade and every type of toxic or narcotic drug.

When I say that the efforts of the police are "fundamentally" repressive as regards the drug trade, I mean that in Spain, according to the Ley de Peligrosidad y rehabilitacion Social of 1970, not only dealers, but also users, of drugs are liable to be punished, although in fact more tolerance is shown to users.

Before going much further, I should say that I consider the term "drug addict" - whether occasional, habitual or addicted - to mean a sick individual requiring understanding, social consideration and medical attention.

I should like to specify that, despite the general agreement on the inclusion of alcohol, tobacco, coffee and tea in the classification of drugs - the first two being as potentially dangerous as any other type of drug - it is not my intention here to discuss these forms of legal drugs (the use of which is not only socially acceptable, but often even encouraged). Following are a few statistics on alcoholism in Spain which might be of interest: According to the Direccion General de Sanidad (Health Authorities), in 1965 there were 2,145,000 alcoholics in Spain. Today there are twice that number, and the annual per-person consumption of alcohol has been estimated at 7 liters. There are 8,000 deaths each year caused by cirrhosis of the liver, and between 40 to 60% of those committed to psychiatric hospitals suffer from alcoholism. It must be admitted that the supply and advertising for alcohol is vast, and that the drinking of alcoholic beverages is an integral part of Spanish social life. Also, the legal produc

tion and sale of alcohol contributes greatly to the nation's economy.

It have brought in the example of the production and sale of alcohol for the purpose of making a comparison between its effects and those of the drug trade abd to put the problem in the proper perspective, and not for the purpose of suggesting that alcohol be prohibited. The United States' Prohibition Law, interestingly enough, resulted in a significant increase in the consumption of alcohol, although its original intention was to promote awareness of the dangers of that drug, despite the fact that it was socially acceptable.

If the social problems caused by the use and sale of toxic, narcotic and psychotropic substances are to be solved, the creation of a more effective multi-national policy is essential, since it is by now obvious that those problems cannot be solved through repression. Such a policy would include concentration on the causes of the problems, their origins, dimensions, consequences, as well as on eventual solutions. Reports issued by the Police Court reveal a particular predisposition for drugs in immature young people, individuals with emotional problems, those with pronounced hyperaesthesia to pain, individuals suffering from inferiority complexes, and so on. However, apart from snobbery and the curiosity of the young to try this "forbidden fruit", we can be sure that the cause of, or rather the element which will determine, future addiction is a serious inner conflict blocking an individual's integration within his own environment. Two attitudes are evident here : defiance and anxiety.

The first might be considered to involve all drugs and included under a single heading, a counter-cultural phenomenon which is manifested in four different ways :

1) dramatizing the vast gap between the "world of drugs" and the "conventional world of the others";

2) the abandoning of the "artificial, empty middle class", for the support and fellowship of users of drugs and addicts;

3) "tuning in" and adopting another view of the world;

4) a total break with the established social order (status symbols, consumer society, responsibility, family and education), in protest against established relationships and inherited values.

This form of counter-cultural break, similar to the moral code of the "hippies", includes encounters with the supreme truth through the use of psychedelic substances, and a total disregard for society.

It might be useful at this point to examine the second attitude sometimes leading to drug addiction: defiance. This attitude has been noted during voluntary treatment. Certainly, those initiated into the drug world are aware of the harm and risks involved in the use of drugs. The entire sub-culture of drugs is manipulated and controlled by those commanding the enormous capital of the drug trade. Their interests, obviously, prosper with prohibition, which guarantees of their continued control of the consumption, manufacture and distribution of drugs.

One of the most important aspect of the problem is the introduction into cultures of new drugs which are not familiar to them, producing changes in the receiving society through reactions and conflicts in the generations adapting to these new customs.

For example, hashish and marijuana do not present social problems in North Africa, and the use of the coca leaf is absolutely normal and acceptable - often even a necessity - on the high plateaux of Bolivia.

THE EFFECT OF THE USE AND TRAFFICKING OF DRUGS ON ORGANIZED CRIME

Apart from its being considered a crime in itself - which in my opinion, is an error - drug trafficking has caused the creation and growth of all kinds of real crime, including murder, robbery, and so on, and generally increased the level of criminality. Drug use generates a large portion of crime - especially involving private property - but within a criminal environment which has been created by the conditions in which the drugs must be procured. This crime is called functional delinquency; i.e. drug-related. On the other hand, the drug traffic controlled by criminal organizations is a political problem of the first order, as it is intrinsically corrupting and paves the way for criminal organizations to have a part in administrative decision making. In order to combat this, highly-specialized investigatory techniques and - even more important - control of the movement of monies across borders are essential. Institution should be specifically equipped with facilities for treatment and rehabilitation. (I

,E)

It would be advisable (beyond each State's particular features) to see that the public ministries and the courts of the various States abandon their persecution of those drug addicts who would accept treatment and control, or who have been subjected to it through administrative or legal decision. (I,D.2)

Drug users, especially the young, first-time offenders, or those without a criminal record should not be imprisoned, except in cases where the means of substitution are considered inappropriate. (I,B,3) If a drug addict is put in prison, the institution should be specifically equipped with facilities for treatment and rehabilitation.(I,E)

In conclusion, I should like to repeat that the penalty for drug trafficking and drug use is a social farce, which in any case results in a tragic inequality between the rich and the poor user of drugs, in that the latter is compelled to become a criminal in order to satisfy his need, while the former is able - thanks to the material resources available to him - to continue without similar recourse.

There is no doubt that the root of the problem is the existence of a supply and a demand. The removal of one of these two elements, would eliminate the problem, and its reduction would reduce the consequences.

On the other hand, if it is reinforced, the situation becomes further complicated, and if we do not promote consciousness of the seriousness of the problem, the dangers presented will become even greater.

For various reasons (some of which have already been given above) prohibition and repression have never had any positive effect. They have instead resulted in a concealing of the problem and have given rise to the creation of thoroughly unsuitable policy.

I will not go any further into that aspect as it would serve only to lengthen this address, and statistics would not, I feel, add anything more to an true understanding of the problem.

CONSEQUENCES

The consequences of the problems unleashed by the use of drugs can be summarized as follows:

l) Drugs are damaging to health - both individually and to society as a whole;

2) Drugs generate crime and threaten public security.

The effects on health due to the consumption of alcohol, tobacco and coffee, are evaluated with reasonable precision, which is not the case when it is the effects of drugs which are being evaluated.

The reason for this is that, since the advent of prohibition, there is an underworld phenomenon known as "black statistics".

SOLUTIONS

The most logical solution, in the light of what has been expounded here, would be the legalization of the use of drugs, with all its implications.

This would be facilitated under medical supervision by specially equipped assistance centers dispensing, for example, insulin.

In this way the following would be eliminated :

a) the transmission of diseases such as AIDS and hepatitis;

b) most drug-related crime committed by drug users;

c) drug trafficking (or, in any case, its reduction to a minimum);

d) the accumulation of capital by criminal organizations and related problems;

e) social alienation;

f) ignorance of the numbers of those affected; thereby facilitating a correct evaluation of the problems.

The following measures could be applied:

l) encouraging family education on the subject;

2) the creation of prevention programmes within the community and its institutions;

3) acquiring information as to what the risk groups are;

4) promoting the awareness that drug use is an indication of the existence of problems in the individual.

In view of the above, the European Health Committee recommends: "drug addiction should not occupy a special place in a programme of prevention; all the aspects of the individual should be considered, integrating the programme accordingly to include problems considered to be related to drug addiction. This can vary from group to group and from country to country".

Preventive policies must be directed at reducing demand by providing information through community educational programmes which is neither exaggerated or alarmist. Training programmes must avoid praise and proselytism at all cost. Therefore, the mass media should be warned to steer clear of irresponsible, partisan or prejudicial statements, mystifications or tendentious reporting during broadcasts and transmissions.

I share the opinion of former specialist anti-drug lawyer, Don José Jiménez Villarejo, that the drug demand must be confronted on both the cultural level (where the - more or less covert - incentive to use psychoactive substances must be discouraged) and the structural one (where the contradictions conditioning individuals - especially the young - to opt for the evasive, antisocial life of drugs including exclusion, unemployment, urban sub-cultures and little access to leisure-time activities, must be eliminated, or at least attenuated).

From a more concrete point of view, these preoccupations must be translated - in the educational sphere - into relevant and intensive teacher training programmes, stressing the imparting to the young of health awareness in the broadest sense; respect for the body and education, without the errors of partial information or counter-productive over-simplifications. It is also important that attention be focused on those who are more vulnerable to the dangers of drugs; those who have already had contact with drugs, and those living in areas particularly sensitive to the phenomenon of consumer pressure. In this area, the demand should be entrusted to teachers, psychologists and social workers, with the assistance of individuals in prominent local positions.

Finally, it is essential that any political programme aiming at the disintoxication of drug addicts and their rehabilitation and re-insertion into society, must first aim at reducing the demand pressure. The instinctive pessimism with which this problem is frequently viewed must be rejected, and an adequate response offered at the Public Administration level to the tragic dilemma in which drug addicts find themselves. That response must of necessity be complex - as complex as the personal problems of each one of them - as well as professionally conceived in stages. Thus, the training of specialists is essential and imperative, if the improvisation and hastiness too often characteristic of present treatment methods is to be eliminated.

I am totally in agreement with Mr. Sanchez del Rio - who is like myself with the Police Force - when he says that the most important thing to be achieved is the elimination of the content of the drug trade by bringing the price down, that is, by bringing the price of production into line with the sale price. This implies facilitating the production of the drug necessary for the treatment of each patient, through appropriate prescriptions or injections administered by physicians working in centers purposely set up to handle this problem. This in turn would involve in each case setting up appropriate medical centers fully integrated into the State's health service structure. These centers would have two primary functions; providing treatment and providing information, without police intervention. This idea is not entirely new. In Spain, a programme already exists for providing substitute drugs for medical treatment, and in Amsterdam serious attempts have already been made to find alternative ways of handling

the problem. The important thing - from the point of view of the police - is to find the way to destroy those international criminal organizations which, because they are not directly involved in fostering drug addiction, must be tackled at an entirely different level.

The following, I am sure, would be the right bases for approaching the problem of drug addiction, the most important of which are:

l) providing suitable information; and

2) reducing the profits of drug trading.

Above all, the burden of providing information as to the effects of drug addiction should no longer be borne by the police, but become the responsibility of health authorities and that sector of the health support system which provides concrete assistance to the ill.

In conclusion, I should like to say that these proposals will not be effective if they are not implemented widely, without the limitations imposed by norms which vary according to the different geographic areas. In other words application must not be limited to a few Dutch cities, but applied throughout Western Europe - national borders must be crossed.

I offer the following recommendations:

1) The consumption of toxic and narcotic drugs should no longer be considered a crime;

2) The drug addict should be considered as being ill, and consequently, administration under medical supervision of the appropriate drug facilitated, in the interests of his recovery;

3) International cooperation and solidarity are essential if universal consciousness of this issue is to be acquired;

4) The problem must be approached scientifically, taking into account available social resources, without falling into the trap of over-simplification or mystification;

5) The approach to the problem of drug dependency requires collaboration between medicine and the social disciplines;

6) New and comprehensive legislation must be passed as regards drug-related illnesses;

7) There is a related need for an integrated system of prevention and treatment of drug addicts, a planned services network operating within the framework of social and health service.

(At the end of his talk, Don José Manuel Sanchez Garcia read Alberto Coesiro's poem, O Guadador de Rebanhos. The following is a more or less free translation...)

What we see in things are the things themselves

Why should we see anything else?

Why should our eyes and ears deceive us

If to see is to see and to hear is to hear?

What matters is to know how to see.

To know how to see without thinking

To know how to see when we are seeing

Not to think when we are seeing

Not to look when we are thinking.

So we must rid our souls of their illusions,

We must unlearn the mystic lessons

Of those who teach us that the stars

Are celestial choirs of disembodied nuns

And that the flowers are souls condemned

To but an hour of penitential pain.

The stars are, after all, but stars

The flowers but flowers,

That is why we call them stars and flowers.