****************************************************************

** PLEASE DISTRIBUTE BY EMAIL AND FAX **

****************************************************************

The Global Days against the Drug War!

June 5-10

Events in:

Alsfeld, Amsterdam, Auckland, Berlin, Bonn, Brussels,

Christchurch, Colville, Dallas, Dunedin, Eugene, Houston,

Ilmenau, Jena, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Munich, New Orleans,

New York, Paris, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Schengen,

Sidney, Stockholm, Tallinn, Tel Aviv, Texoma, Tucson,

Washington, Wellington, Winnipeg ...

Join the Coalition!

As you probably know, the United Nations will hold the first-

ever Special Session of the General Assembly on Drugs, UNGASS,

from June 8th to June 10th 1998 in New York.

This session was originally conceived as a critical examination

of worldwide anti-drug policy. The focus of this session has now

been narrowed. According to the new guidelines, only the

expansion of existing policies will be open for discussion. The

United Nations aims to escalate current drug repression tactics

in a catastrophic quest towards a 'drug free' society. In terms

of crime, economic and financial damage, and social and personal

harm, this policy is turning into a worldwide crisis!

It is of great importance that alternative proposals are heard

at the onset of this UN session. A clear statement must be made

that what is needed is not escalated repression, but reform

policies aimed at reducing the damage currently done.

To this aim, a number of organisations have recently united to

form the "Global Coalition for Alternatives to the Drug War".

They have written a declaration that will be published widely.

You can join the coalition by co-signing the declaration; see

the contact info below.

Members of this coalition are also invited to participate in the

the "1998 Global Days against the Drug War", which are held

Friday June 5th through Wednesday June 10th in cities around the

world. This international event will feature discussion forums,

seminars, publications, press conferences, demonstrations,

street parties, concerts, a congress, and other types of events.

The CORA congress will be held in Paris, Friday 5th through

Sunday 7th, and a great three-day event is planned to take place

in New York from Monday 8th through Wednesday 10th. We have

applied for a forum inside the UN on Tuesday June 9th. At this

moment (April 25th), events are being planned in 33 cities!

You can help make the 1998 Global Days against the Drug War a

success! Make sure your city is part of this event. If you are a

member of a group or organisation that can help, contact us.

Otherwise, you can join one or more of the participating groups

and organisations, or set up your own group. See the contact

info below.

In the weeks before UNGASS we will issue press releases with the

names of all the groups and organisations that have joined the

coalition. Groups and organisations are invited to plan their

own version of the 1998 Global Days against the Drug War, under

their own identity and name. Note however that participation in

the coalition does not itself imply endorsement of the

individual events taking place.

Organisations wishing to join the coalition can send mail to

coalition@stopthedrugwar.org. Individual activists please visit

the web site at http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/globalcoalition/

The Global Coalition for Alternatives to the Drug War currently

consists of these and more than 45 other organisations:

The Drug Reform Coordination Network (DRCNet), the National

Organisation for Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), Coordinamento

Radicale Antiprohibizionista (CORA), the November Coalition, the

Campaign for Equity-Restorative Justice (CERJ), the

Transnational Radical Party (TRP), Common Sense for Drug Policy,

the Legalize! Initiative, the Media Awareness Project (MAP),

American Society for Action on Pain (ASAP), Compassionate Care

Alliance, the Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of

Hemp (CRRH), HANF! Magazine, National Alliance of Methadone

Advocates (NAMA), and other organisations.

Participate in the 1998 Global Days against the Drug War !

June 5-10

DECLARATION

of the Global Coalition for Alternatives to the Drug War

We, the undersigned, having recognized the extraordi-

nary damage being caused by the Drug War, join together

in a call for wide-ranging and honest international and

intranational discussion about the effectiveness and

consequences of current, force-based drug policies. Fur-

thermore, we call upon our governments and fellow citizens

to begin the process of the exploration of alternative

solutions to the issues that these policies are claimed

to address. This process should include, but not be

limited to, a revision of the United Nations conventions

and other international treaties which inhibit nations

from adopting such alternatives.

We believe that in an atmosphere of honest and rational

examination, effective policies can be found which are

based not upon force, repression, prohibition, coercive

government action and the use of violence, but upon the

universal principles of human rights, freedom, justice,

equality under the law, the dignity of the individual,

the health of people and communities, and the sovereignty

of nations.

It should be noted that this coalition represents a

very broad range of political and social viewpoints,

and a wide variety of issue-interests. The heterogeneity

of the signatories to this coalition is evidence of

both the intellectual strength of our position and

the breadth of the destruction being wrought by

current policies. For despite our differences, we stand

together in the knowledge that a policy which mandates

a continuous state of war, in the absence of a true

acknowledgement and assessment of the consequences

and excesses of that war, is objectively flawed. And

that such a policy is in direct contradiction to the

mission and the ideals of the United Nations, and of the

peoples of the earth.

No society, whether local or global, can long endure

under a perpetual state of war. Nor do we choose to

leave as a legacy to our children, and to future

generations, the disastrous results of such a policy.

It is time to find alternatives.

The Global Coalition for Alternatives to the Drug War.

http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/globalcoalition/

e-mail: coalition@stopthedrugwar.org

****************************************************************

** PLEASE DISTRIBUTE BY EMAIL AND FAX **

****************************************************************