The UNDCP is the directing and monitoring organ of the prohibitionist regime, created by the three international conventions on drugs, of 1961, 1972 and 1988. In a certain sense, therefore, it is the body that represents the less flexible approach to the drug issue, the one that advocates punishment, repression and more punishment for both supply and demand.

This document instead states that drug abuse and the cultivation of drugs cannot be made to disappear from the earth, "just like malaria cannot be eradicated because its main vehicle, the mosquito, cannot be eliminated". In both cases it is therefore necessary to concentrate on protecting the individuals and on treating the disease - a position which I consider reasonable and totally convincing.

The document adds, aptly, that "in countries where the penalties for abuse and possession of drugs are strictest, the consumer has more of an incentive to remain in the shadow", and therefore not be treated and not cooperate in fighting the traffickers.

The document often refers to the consumer as "misuser" instead of the traditional "abuser". Lastly, it explicitly advocates a harm reduction strategy, by means of "information and education, substitute drugs, treatment and advice, distribution of clean needles. As with the legal drug, nicotine, it has long been accepted that the lighter cigarettes are, the better - though the final objective is to stop smoking altogether".

These statements could appear to be obvious only if we fail to consider their source. If the UNDCP's policy were to be based on such criteria in the future, it would finally become an interlocutor for us antiprohibitionists.

The question is whether this will happen: the document is signed by the "Demand reduction section", and could express the opinions of only a single part of the organization. But even if were just an internal debate, it would still be worth following.