January 1973

AGAINST STATE DRUGS

Radical Party Campaign in Italy "against State drugs and for the liberalisation of light drugs". Protest against the arrest of thousands of young people for using small doses of hashish. A modification of the law holding the consumer to be equivalent to the dealer was called for.

June 1973

FREEDOM AND DRUGS

A Convention on "Freedom and Drugs" organised in Rome by the Radical Party and by "Stampa Alternativa", with spokesmen Daniel Bovet (Nobel Prizewinner for Medicine) Adriano Buzzati (Vice-President of UNESCO), and Giancarlo Arnao (author of "Report on Drugs", and "Drugs and Power").

July 1975

PANNELLA SMOKES HASHISH IN PUBLIC: HIS ARREST

During a press conference, Marco Pannella, Secretary of the Radical Party smoked a joint in public to solicit approval for a new law. The police-officer, Ennio Di Francesco who arrested him, subsequently sent him a telegram expressing solidarity with the value of his action. This caused police-officer Di Francesco to be interrogated, and deprived of the capacity to continue his inquiry into various major drug traffic networks.

December 1975

ITALIAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES A NEW DRUG LAW

The Italian Parliament approved a new law on the use of narcotic substances. This was a contradictory law which nevertheless contained positive elements such as the immunity to penalisation of those using only moderate amounts of drugs.

September 1979

LIBERALISATION OF INDIAN CANNABIS

The Radical MPs and first signatory Mauro Mellini, presented a law proposal for the liberalisation of Indian cannabis to the Italian Chamber of Deputies.

December 1979

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE AS REGARDS MARIJUANA: JEAN FABRE ARRESTED

Smoking marijuana during a press conference in Rome, the Radical Secretary was practising an act of civil disobedience to solicit the legalisation of "non-drugs". An identical initiative by the Commune of Rome Councillor,Angiolo Bandinelli, who offered joints around at a sitting of the Municipal Council. Both were arrested.

December 1979

LAW PROPOSAL FOR THE CONTROLLED DISTRIBUTION OF DRUGS

Radical MPs, together with some Socialist members of parliament, (the first signatory Massimo Teodori), presented a proposal of law to the Italian Chamber of Deputies for the "controlled distribution of psychotropic substances and narcotics, and for the "liberalisation of cannabis".

January 1980

The Radicals launched the appeal "A law immediately to avoid death", supporting the proposal presented by Radicals and Socialists in the Italian Parliament. Signatories included the writer Leonardo Sciascia and the Secretary-General of the Socialist Workers Union (UIL), Georgio Benvenuto. Radical deputies presented a survey on the names of people who had died from drugs at each sitting of the Chamber.

April 1980

SOWING INDIAN HEMP IN A PUBLIC PARK

Francesco Rutelli, Regional Secretary of the Radical Party, sowed Indian hemp in a Roman Park, the Villa Borghese, to coincide with the collection of signatures for a referendum on the legalisation of hashish and marijuana; promoted by the Radical Party. 700 thousand citizens signed this request for a referendum.

May 1981

PREVENTION BY THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OF ITALIAN VOTE ON THE DEPENALISATION OF INDIAN HEMP

The Italian Constitutional Court declared that the request for a referendum on the depenalisation of hashish and marijuana was incompatible with International Treaties.

August 1984

PANNELLA: TO ABOLISH DRUG PROHIBITIONISM

At a press conference, Radical Leader Marco Pannella illustrated his proposal to totally eliminate the drug prohibitionist system. Recalling the failure of the American Prohibition (on alcohol), Pannella affirmed that it was prohibitionism and not drugs themselves which contributed to the criminal international drug trade.

September 1984

RADICAL DOCTOR ARRESTED FOR PRESCRIBING NARCOTIC SUBSTANCES

Gino Del Gatto, doctor and Radical spokesman, was arrested in Pescara (Italy) for having prescribed narcotic substances to drug addicts. He was later acquitted.

August 1987

MILTON FRIEDMAN FOR THE LEGALISATION OF DRUGS

Pannella launched a proposal to create an "Antiprohibitionist League against Drugs and Crime". The same theory was held by Milton Friedman, Nobel Prizewinner for Economics, who in his book "The Tyranny of the Status Quo" made the theory of the legalisation of drugs his own. A campaign to the same effect was promoted by the British magazine: "the Economist".

January 1988

THE RADICAL CONGRESS AGAINST PROHIBITIONISM

The Radical Party Congress which took place in Bologna, Italy, included among resolutions engaging the party's action: "a policy against crime, and the culture and ideologies whose development is due to the illicit drug market".

February 1988

BIRTH OF RADICAL ANTIPROHIBITIONIST CO-ORDINATION: "CORA"

CORA (Radical Antiprohibitionist Co-ordination) was formed, as an international group initiative against prohibitionism.

July 1988

CO-OPERATIVE FOR THE CULTIVATION OF MARIJUANA

A group of Radicals in Milan, Italy, formed a co-operative and constituted an act of civil disobedience by publicly growing a field of marijuana.

September 1988

BRUSSELS: INTERNATIONAL PROHIBITIONIST ROUND TABLE

The Radical Party and CORA promoted a convention in Brussels on drug antiprohibitionism. Participants included Georges Apap, General Ambrogio Viviani, ex-Chief of Italian CounterEspionage, the American economist Peter Reuter, and Peter Cohen, Director of Services for Drug Addicts, Amsterdam.