ANTIPROHIBITIONISTS OF THE ENTIRE WORLD (2-1)

Antiprohibitionist action report * June 1st 1996, An 2 n.1

Radical Antiprohibitionist Coordination

Observatory of laws on drugs

PAA PARLIAMENTARIAN FOR ANTIPROHIBITIONIST ACTION

European campaign for the revision of international conventions

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CORA-ITALY

Via di Torre Argentina 76

00186 ROME

tel: +39-6-689791

fax: +39-6-68805396

E-mail cora.italie@agora.stm.it

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CORA-BELGIUM

Rue Belliard 97

c/o European Parliament

Rem 5.08

1040 BRUSSELS

tel: +32-2-230.41.21 - 646.26.31

fax: +32-2-230.36.70

E-mail cora.belgique@agora.stm.it

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Our goal is to organize a nonviolent antiprohibitionist political movement starting with Europe. It is an ambitious goal, above our actual financial capabilities. Our ONLY financial resources come from subscriptions or contributions that citizens pay individually to CORA: not one cent of our budget comes from other organizations or institutions. This financial weakness is our strength and our political freedom. This allows us to act on what we consider the most urgent and correct. With a view to the VIIth CORA congress, which will be held in Brussels in November, we want to establish a network of contacts and personal disposals to change the existing laws on drugs. In consequent we ask you to fill out and return this following form by mail or by fax or by sending us the answers by E-mail.

FIRST NAME____________________________________________________________

NAME__________________________________________________________________

ADDRESS_______________________________________________________________

TEL_____________________________________FAX___________________________

E-MAIL________________________________________________________________

PROFESSION____________________________________________________________

IF ARE YOU MEMBER OF A PARTY, WHICH ONE?______________________________

IF YOU ARE ELECTED IN AN INSTITUTION, WHICH ONE?______________________

IF YOU EXERCISE POLITICAL OR INSTITUTIONAL FUNCTIONS,

WHICH ONES?___________________________________________________________

I WOULD LIKE TO:

0 receive this report

0 translate this report in____________________________________________

0 distribute this report to the parliamentarians of my country

0 subscribe/adhere to the CORA

0 collaborate with OLD - Observatory of laws on drugs

0 adhere (if you are a parliamentarian) or collaborate (if you are not) with the PAA Parliamentarians for Antiprohibitionist Action European Campaign for the Revision of the International Convention on Drugs.

BELGIUM * Appeal to the Belgian Parliament Commission for a new policy on drugs

The CORA started an appeal of parliamentarians and personalities in Belgium to the Parliamentarian Commission which - on the proposal of Patrick MORIAU, socialist deputy and mayor of Chapelle-lez-Herlaimont and also promoter of the CORA in Belgium - is discussing the revision of the actual drug laws. Following the first received signatures of parliamentarians and political personalities: Count Pol BOEL, ancient Liberal senator; Willy BURGEON, Socialist deputy; Paul-Joseph BENKER, ancient Green senator; Germain DUFOUR, ancient Green senator; Albert EYLENBOSCH, socialist advisor of the Saint-Gilles public center of social assistance; Nathalie GILSON, Liberal municipal advisor; Pierre LENFANT, ancient Social-Christian senator; Frans LOZIE, Green deputy; Yvan MAYEUR, president of the Brussels public center of social assistance, ancient Socialist deputy; Henry SIMONS, alderman to the City of Brussels, ancient Green deputy; Dany VANDENBOSSCHE, Socialist deputy. Among the personalities: Jean-Pierre BARTHOLOME, edit

or; Paul COCHIE, employee; Maria COLERA, jurist; Jean CORNIL, assistant director of the Center for equal chances; Benoit DECLERCK, psychologist; Marc DERU, doctor; Jacques DE SELLIERS, engineer; Daniel DESTOBBELEIR, functionary; Riccardo fama, director AFIt; Michel GHEUDE, consultant; Antonio GUZMAN, psychologist; Christian HEUCHENNE, University Professor at ULG; Pierre JACQUEMART, doctor; Chantal MEUNIER, psychologist; Marc REISINGER, psychiatrist; Jan REYNAERS, head of cabinet of Flemish Brabant's Governor; Pierre RIGAUX, doctor; Sonja SNACKEN, University professor at the VUB; Ms Isabelle STENGERS, University professor at the ULB; Mr Gerard THIBERT, psychiatrist.

PAA Parliamentarians for Antiprohibitionist Action

European Campaign for the Revision of the International Conventions on Drugs

The CORA launched a European campaign for the revision of the international conventions on drugs that aims at elected parliamentarians in the European Parliament and in the national parliaments. The initiative's goal is a direct personal engagement from the parliamentarians for a profound revision of the conventions and in order that they don't sacrifice science, justice and democratic institutions on the altar of ethics and morality what concerns on the contrary the domain of the personal convictions. The campaign is entitled PAA-PARLIAMENTARIANS FOR ANTIPROHIBITIONIST ACTION European Campaign for the revision of the International Conventions on Drugs. The first invitation to adhere was addressed to the elected at the European Parliament. Among the first adhesions, those of Magda AELVOET, Greens, Belgium; Ernesto CACCAVALE, Forza Italia, Italy; Daniel COHN-BENDIT, Greens, Germany; Gianfranco DELL'ALBA, Lista Pannella-Riformatori, Italy; Olivier DUPUIS, Lista Pannella-Riformatori, Italy; Jean-Francois HORY,

Radical, France; Elly PLOOIJ-VAN GORSEL, Liberal-Democrates, The Netherlands; Pierre PRADIER, Radical, France; Angela del Carmen SIERRA GONZALEZ, Left Union, Spain; Maria SORNOZA MARTINEZ, Left Union, Spain; Wolfgang ULLMANN, Greens, Germany.

*France. For the President of the Amnae (Medical-Pharmaceutical Association of Assistance to childhood against drugs), repression is necessary but not sufficient. We have to prevent. The debate on depenalization is a false problem. Doctors have to modify their too casual behavior as far as prescription of antidepressants and other medicines of the same kind are concerned. The state and the local collectivities have to organize solidarity, the only way to defeat this social discomfort which is one of the causes of drug consumption.

(LE FIGARO, May 23rd)

*France. The opinions of doctor Patrick Aeberhard, the sociologist Anne Cappel and the educator Valerie Rogissart, co-organizors of the VIIIth international conference on risk reduction related to drug use that will take place in Paris from March 23rd to 27th 1997. The polemic of France with the Netherlands is useless because of its drug policy and because of the fact that it delegates tasks to stressed and depressed policemen instead of to social assistants and doctors. Social relations with other European countries, including the Netherlands, have to be reestablished, by going back to numbers and experience in order to find a common expectation.

(LIBERATION, May 24th)

*Austria. Interview with the Viennese head of police, Peter Stiedl, after a cocaine scandal, in which policemen are involved. Apart from the defense of the big majority of policemen, he admits that drugs create many problems. His proposals to oppose the phenomenon are the following: the massive use of telephone listening and a minute chase. Stiedl is against liberalization of drugs, for, according to him, Austria would become a paradise for drug addicts from other countries.

(DIE PRESSE, May 24th)

*Spain. An alternative to prison. Between 1991 and 1994, the non-governmental organization "Proyecto Hombre" received 2.628 condemned drug addicts for crimes related to drugs. A study on 225 cases that were treated in the Madrid centers shows that in 50% of the cases, the treatment has given positive results, as well for detoxication as for social reinsertion. 37% of the drug addicts abandoned the treatment, most of them at the moment of their release, and the others continue.

(EL PAIS, May 26th)

*THE CARIBBEAN. The Caribbean became the new bridgehead of drug traffic between Colombia and the US. While the Clinton administration concentrated its efforts in order to control the borders with Mexico, a country where the biggest stream of narcotics continues to go in the direction of the US and Europe, the traffickers found alternative and more secure ways in the Caribbean countries. The exclusive island of Saint-Martin is the destination of the Italian mafia for meeting the emissaries of the Cali cartel. Antigua has one of the most corrupt governments of the district and is known to have given asylum to hundreds of traffickers. Santa Lucia has a population of cocaine addicts that continues to increase. Traffic gangs are terrorizing Trinidad. But the traffic center is Puerto Rico, for its customs facilities with the US. "Operation Gateway" is a strategy from the American government to block the phenomenon.

(L'ESPRESSO, May 30th)

*COLOMBIA. The president of the Republic, Ernesto Samper, should be acquitted after having been accused of having obtained a 6 million $ electoral aid from the Cali cartel during the 1994 electoral campaign. The parliamentary commission that is examining the case, voted the request of pursuit with 10 against 3, for evident proof would be missing to corroborate the accusation of corruption. The parliament will then accept or refuse the indication given by the commission. In the meantime, 3 ministers involved in the scandal - the ministers of internal affairs, external affairs and of communication - were released and stay under supervision. The president didn't accept their resignation and they continue to exercise their ministerial functions.

(LE MONDE, May 23rd; INT. HERALD TRIBUNE, May 24th)

*FRANCE. The central organism for the repression of the illegal traffic of narcotics (OCRTIS) announced that last year's drug seizures decreased whereas the amount of arrests increased. 69.432 people have been arrested, which corresponds with a rise of 16,31% in proportion to the year before. Three-quarter of them concern simple users, whereas those of consumers/dealers imply 15%, the remaining concerns traffickers. The seizures decreased with 31,12%. The cannabis import is decreasing, LSD and crack are stable, ecstasy is increasing with 7,4%. We notice a decline of deadly overdoses with 17%, thanks to the fear for AIDS and the reception policy of addicts.

(LE FIGARO, LIBERATION, May 22nd)

*THE NETHERLANDS. The Dutch liberalism which subscribes a proud and centennial tradition became - in the French opinion - impossible to control. "We interrupted the obligatory transition from soft drugs to hard drugs" confirmed Tom Cramer, drug expert to the Dutch Ministry of Health. Last month, in revenge, France confirmed its decision to reinforce the control of the Belgian and Luxembourg borders and asked its European colleagues to carry out commercial sanctions against the Netherlands, which is regarded as the European Union's scabby sheep. The Dutch made some concessions, dropping the hashish quantity that can be bought in the coffee-shops, knowing well that the question is located upstream, in the overproduction of hashish coming from North-Africa.

*PANAMA. More than 6 years after the invasion of the American troops in Panama in order to chase the literally "drugged" dictatorship of general Noriega, the signals indicate that the drug traffic and the whitewash of dirty money started again to be a characteristic of the country. The present president, Ernesto Perez Balladeres, declared that "the struggle against drugs will continue, with or without the Americans". His government took measures against smuggling and recycling, but observers regard this as superficial reforms. In the eighties, the time of Noriega, the mafia and the traffickers obtained strong political protection.

(THE ECONOMIST, May 25th)

* Italy Turin. One billion lira, every day, to buy drugs. Turin addicts are the most "generous" consumers in town and practically no other product achieves a business number this high. The numbers on daily heroine and cocaine use were published by the Sert, an observatory created by a group of experts coordinated by the Health Services, that became one of Italy's most influencing voices in the drug world. Any addict in prison means a loss of almost 21 liras a month to the State.

(IL GIORNALE, 31/05/96)

*SOMALIA. Five hundred acres of cannabis, a production that achieved 160 tons of hashish in 1995, entirely destined for the export. The Kenyan authorities, who seized last week at the border 20 tons of drugs on a cargo with direction Tanzania, pretend that the cultivation was introduced in Somalia by a UNOSOM (the UN contingent) officer. The Somalian narcos would dispose of 400 armed men. The hashish and the khat (drug spread in East-Africa), nourish the market which flourishes with weapons and created a new war between the militia, the one of the herb.

(PANORAMA 06/06/96)

*COLOMBIA. The congress will have to decide this week whether President Ernesto Samper was or was not aware of the fact that millions of dollars spent for his electoral campaign came from the traffic in narcotics. The conclusions of the trial seemed to bring no surprises: the 165 members of the Chamber of representatives - of which seven are in prison for corruption related to drug traffic and twenty others are under investigation - prefer Samper's acquittal. The trial, distributed directly, is last years' biggest TV event. 60% of the Colombians believe the president is guilty, 40% think he should be acquitted.

(FINANCIAL TIMES 28/05/96; HERALD TRIBUNE 04/06/96)

*USA Kentucky. The actor Woody Harrelson, main actor in "Natural Born Killer", planted 4 grains of hashish at the conference for legalization of industrial marijuana and was arrested. The cannabis - of which the cultivation for industrial use is forbidden in the US since 1937 - can be used for the production of paper, rope, carpets and bird food. The cultivation with this intend is legal in other countries, as in Great-Britain. At the moment of his arrest, Harrelson was completely dressed in clothing made of cannabis.

*GERMANY. In Hamburg, during an ecstasy congress, the medical and psychological aspects of the phenomenon were analyzed. Those are mainly related to the youth who frequents disco clubs. Most of those who take ecstasy don't belong to socially marginal groups. They are very normal young people who work or study generally with profit and who abandon themselves to vice only at the end of the week. The problem is that the collateral effects, clinical as well as psychological, are devastating. It is thus necessary to intervene with a policy of information and prevention, also because it is difficult to intervene with legal instruments.

(SUDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG, 30/05/96)

*SPAIN. The "practical handbook for the defense of people in state of imprisonment", written by the lawyer and expert in law, Julian Carlos Rios Martin, criticizes the fact that in the Spanish prisons, the personal use of narcotics is allowed, whereas the same thing is considered as a serious crime outside the prison gates.

(EL PAIS 3/9/96)

*GERMANY. In Witmund, a police functionary - after having seen a doctor - gave heroine to two drug addicts who were taken into custody, in order to prevent an abstinence crisis. The policeman acted against the law but hasn't yet been pursued.

(SUDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG, 31/5/96)

*SWITSERLAND. The Swiss government decided that from July 1st 1996 on, the import and export of ephedrine, an inoffensive substance, will only be possible with the authorization of a health control organ. The measure is justified by the fact that this substance is often used for the production of Ice and Ecstasy in clandestine laboratories.

(NEUE ZURCHER ZEITUNG, 30/5/96)

USA. To attack the drug addiction problem by directly intervening in its biochemical mechanisms: this is the goal of the experiences of the American Marc Caron. Through genetic engineering he made certain laboratory animals immune to cocaine and to amphetamines.

(EL PAIS, 30/5/96)