EUROPEAN UNION ON THE ROAD TO LEGALIZATION

[Crunchy]

EUROPEAN UNION ON THE ROAD TO LEGALIZATION

published Wednesday 24 February 2010 11:19, by encod . update Wednesday 24 February 2010 13:06

 

 

"REPRESSION DOES NOT WORK"

 

(Carel Edwards, Head of the Drugs Coordination Unit of the European Commission, the highest placed civil servant of the European Union concerning drug policies)

 

Brussels, 23 February 2010

 

 

Current drug policies in the European Union have done more harm than good. That is the conclusion of a Public Hearing on EU’s Drug Policy that took place in the European Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday 23 February.

 

Carel Edwards, head of the Drugs Coordination Unit of the European Commission told the hearing that "we know that repression does not work. Europe is slowly on the way to more liberal drug policies."

 

The purpose of the hearing in the European Parliament was to discuss the so-called Reuter Trautmann report, which concludes that the anti-drug strategy of EU countries has failed in many ways.

 

The Reuter Trautmann report is the result of a research on the impact of drug policies on the global drugs market in the past ten years. It was elaborated by the US think tank RAND Corporation and tjhe Dutch Trimbos Institute, upon the request of the European Commission.

 

According to the report there has not been any significant impact on the supply and demand of illegal drugs between 1998 and 2007. On the contrary, the price for the repressive policies has been an uncontrolled illegal market, drug-related criminality and the spread of diseases like hiv/aids. The public expenditure on drug policies in the EU is estimated at 40 billion euro/year, or 80 euro per EU citizen.

 

The European Commission was criticized by the NGO platform European Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies (Encod) that had organised the hearing together with the Greek MEP Michail Tremopolous (GREENS).

 

– "Civil society organisations have been warning EU authorities for years that drug policies were ineffective and counterproductive, but national and EU authorities ignored these messages"said Joep Oomen from Encod. "Local authorities and affected citizens have a pragmatic and forward thinking approach to drugs. Europe should benefit from these experiences."

 

A majority of the 40 delegates to the hearing expressed their support for an acceptance - oriented drug policy in the EU, including a legal framework for the prodeuction, distribution and consumption of drugs.

 

With the exception of five people, all participants accepted the final conclusion that restrictive drug policies have done more harm than good. "To continue these policies would be a form of criminal negligence. The European Union has the knowledge that prohibition doesn’t work. Now it should act upon that knowledge", says Joep Oomen.

 

The hearing resulted in several recommendations to the EU institutions. Among others, it calls for the organisation of a EU Summit to discuss innovative drug strategies not based on prohibition, with delegations of national and local authorities, parliamentarians and civil society organisations. It also calls on the EU to strengthen the ’harm reduction"-approach, to allow citizens to grow cannabis for their personal use and in general to promote drug policies that respect human rights, individual freedoms and social cohesion.

 

The conclusions of the hearing will be presented on the meeting of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna of 8 - 12 March.

 

Source: https://www.encod.org/info/EUROPEAN-UNION-O...HE-ROAD-TO.html

[Kiweed]

Excellent post thankyou Crunchy.

 

It looks like the EU nations are finally starting to be released from the grip of the US empire.

 

Only when the US empire collapses will nations like Australia and NZ be released from the grip of the overarching BIG BROTHER.

 

Folks it is in my very humble opinion that ganja smokers in Western Ally nations will also be free to live the life that God chose for us.

 

We might have to one day get out on the streets with our Brothers and Sisters to make the point final.

[Crunchy]

I agree Kiweed, now that Bush is out of office dont think the U.S. Gov is as repressive.

With a few U.S. States with legalization bills in play, plus the EU's new stance (which upon rereading i realize is HUGE), i think legalization will be achieved soon! (1-3 years) and from that point its only going to spread like wildwire!

also i hear lots of aussies saying "yeh all well and good if california legalizes it or whoever else, but hows that going to help us?", precedent of legalization is the linchpin that is going to push through legalization around the globe. Which is why i pay such close attention to U.S./International legalization progress. Everything theyre talking about now, and all the issues that are coming up, are most likely going to repeat themselves here once we start the same process, its wise to keep track of the goings on elsewhere if theyre going to help you achieve your goals.

 

Peace,

Crunchy.

[hobbez]

I hear ya crunchy, what happens in the US will get here eventually..

 

it has too

[Innocent criminal]

Excellent post thankyou Crunchy.

 

It looks like the EU nations are finally starting to be released from the grip of the US empire.

 

Only when the US empire collapses will nations like Australia and NZ be released from the grip of the overarching BIG BROTHER.

 

Folks it is in my very humble opinion that ganja smokers in Western Ally nations will also be free to live the life that God chose for us.

 

We might have to one day get out on the streets with our Brothers and Sisters to make the point final.

 

Five years ago I would have agreed with you 100%, and still do in sentiment. However there has been so much change in the attitude of the media and politicians in the US in that time that I now regard Australia as a less tolerant nation and that scares the hell out of me!

Really, the 'vibe' coming off Australia at the moment stinks! winging self righteous wankers dominate our media and political parties, our population seems to get more self serving every year. We are no longer the tolerant multi-cultural nation we professed to be in the 80's and 90's, as a whole we are now a bunch of blame shifting, litigeous arseholes.

Forget about waiting for the US to change their ways, they started that before Bush got the boot and there still is no sign of a shift in rhetoric here.

I've said it before, if you want hints at were Aussie drug policy is headed, watch Britain, our lawmakers seem to be taking their cues from them not the US.

 

Just my opinions and very much a generalization on the Australian people (I know we arent all self righteous wankers, it just seems that way sometimes).

 

PS. Britain is not part of the EU, but being such close neighbours they are bound to follow eventually if this is successful.

[phreakah]

I have a feeling all this has happened before

Seems like history is repeating the process of when alcohol was outlawed.

They realised the government could get their sticky fingers in on it, so they legalised it again.

A lot of people died from drinking dodgy moonshine I believe.

And now the governments are thinking along the lines of 'harm reduction', which is far better for them and us than the current systems in place.

[Frazz]

Good o for EU ,

but Aust. is moving in the opposite direction, reppression of Cannabis is a committed policy of both Dudd and Abbott

 

how many other countries have a government-sponsered department dedicated to Cannabis Prevention and eradication !!!!

 

namely the Australian National Cannabis Prevention & Information Centre (NCPIC)

 

the Australian Government is providing more than $12 million over four years for the centre, which is part of the Government’s national illicit drug strategy, Tough on Drugs

 

The NCPIC mission is to reduce the use of cannabis in Australia by preventing uptake.

There are a range of health and social harms associated with cannabis use. In recent times there has also been a marked increase in presentations to specialist alcohol and other drug treatment services for problems associated with use of the drug.

 

[jabez]

Tell ya what, it'll be interesting to see how there conclusion goes down when they present it to the UN commission on narcotic drugs, in a weeks time.

 

The UN has just released a warning to the south American countries who have decriminalized drug use and to the US states that have legalized medical cannabis that they are falling short of the control requirments set in the 1961 convention.

 

The UN is showing it's politically motivated and morally based policies are still alive and as strong as ever. The UN board that sets drug policy has had it's chance and it's policies have been shown to be flawed and do more damage than the drugs themselves, the board must be abolished, for the safety of mankind.

[Innocent criminal]

The UN board that sets drug policy has had it's chance and it's policies have been shown to be flawed and do more damage than the drugs themselves, the board must be abolished, for the safety of mankind.

 

True dat brotha ..

[Kiweed]

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