We believe that it is very important that the report dedicates some paragraphs to harm reduction experiments; we are also glad that a paragraph on the debate on the legalization of drugs has been included. It is the first time that a UN official publication presents the matter without prejudices or censorship.

We welcome the publication of data never revealed before, namely the figures regarding heroin consumers, penalties for drug related crimes, the costs per capita for detentions, etc. We also want to stress the statistics regarding the Italian referendum of 1993 - proposed by the Radical Antiprohibtionist Coordination - for the depenalization of personal use of illegal drugs.

We consider particularly significant the contributions regarding the definition of statistical indicators to "measure" the impact of drugs on society: mortality, hospitalization, drug-addicts services, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, penal procedures, prisons, kidnappings, typology of consume (occasional, habitual, hard, by injection), market analysis, country profiles and others.

For all these reasons we strongly criticize the official position of the UNDCP regarding the conclusions of the Report. If the UNDCP attitude on one side has allowed the group of researchers to work on the attention to new policies such as harm reduction and antiprohibitionist alternative in complete autonomy, on the other it demonstrates an irresponsible under-evaluation of the scientific and statistic data that confirm the undeniable ineffectiveness of stopping the rapid expansion of use and trade of illegal drugs.

For years we have denounced the consequences of prohibitionism. The irresponsible prudence of those who do not want to face the reality or the increasing gap between the statistical and scientific data and international policies - unable of proposing a global structural strategy - and of those only capable of treating the problem as an emergency. Violence in the cities, Mafias' threat on politics, economy, or States as well as corruption, are not consequences of drugs, are consequences of prohibitionism. This document confirms the comments that TRP has expressed for years on the subject.

Each individual, whether consumer or not, pays for the effects of these disastrous policies!

Which interests have impeded the publication of the true effects of prohibitionsim? From which and out of control political situation without perspectives comes a document that for the first time opens to the redefinition without prejudices on the drug problem? Which responsibilities and political decisions will imply the publication of such study?

We want to find answers to all these questions, and we will continue to raise more interrogatives concerning this issue whenever and wherever possible.