Dear friends
I have made the following new version of Michalis bulletinn:
ENCOD BULLETIN ON DRUG POLICIES IN EUROPE
JUNE 2012
NO MORE TIME TO WASTE, PROHIBITION HAS FAILEDIn the aftermath of the disappointing 2012 session of the UN Commission
on Narcotic Drugs and the 50th anniversary of the signing of the UN
Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (1961), there is a widespread
social, scientific and political reaction favoring the reform and
modernization of the global drug control system.
The global drug control system was created, supposedly, to make the
world a safer and healthier place by "eliminating or significantly
reducing" supply and demand of illicit drugs. As indicated by many
reports and most notably the "Reuter- Trautmann Report
<
http://ec.europa.eu/justice/anti-drugs/files/report-drug-markets-short_en.pdf>..."
that was funded by the European Commission, fifty years of prohibition
have brought the exact opposite result: the increase of both demand and
supply. Since prohibitive policies have failed in their primary
objectives, with costs far exceeding any benefits, there is an urgent
need to reform them in favor of legal regulation.
Even a number of former higher US officials, whose predecessors
inititiated this criminal policy, declared recently
<
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/officials+tell+Tories+drugs+failed/6188247/sto...;
that the war on drugs has failed, with high costs to society and the
economy (increased incarcerations, deaths, harm to users, criminality
related to drug abuse and costs of repression), while providing
extraordinary revenues for organized crime and resulting in increased
state and social corruption.
The effects of prohibition are immense. The 2011 Report of the European
Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction
<
http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/attachements.cfm/att_143743_EN_EMCDDA_AR2011_EN.pdf&...;
(EMCDDA) states that Europe faces new challenges regarding the patterns
of drug use and trafficking, while "there are worrying indications of
developments in the synthetic drugs market and, more generally, in the
way drug consumers now use a wider set of substances. Polydrug use,
including the combination of illicit drugs with alcohol, and sometimes,
medicines and non-controlled substances, has become the dominant pattern
of drug use in Europe."
According to official data of the "UNODC World Drug Report 2010
<
http://www.unodc.org/documents/wdr/WDR_2010/World_Drug_Report_2010_lo-res.pdf>...",
since 1998 the global potential opium production has increased by 78%,
while cocaine and cannabis production show increasing trends each year.
In Europe the number of cocaine users has doubled during the last
decade, while it is estimated that globally between 155 and 250 million
people (3.5 to 5.7% of the population aged 15-64) used illicit
substances at least once in 2008. The report estimates that there were 5
million users of cocaine and 3.5 million of opiate users of in Europe,
while between 16 and 38 million people globally were problematic drug
users in 2008, representing 10% to 15% of all people who used drugs that
year. Cannabis users globally are estimated at 190 million and in Europe
around 30 million people. According to the same report the annual
turnover of the global illicit drug market is estimated at 400 billion
USD, while the annual turnover of the European cannabis market exceeds
35 billion USD.
According to a 2008 report of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs
and Drug Addiction
<
http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/attachements.cfm/att_60370_EN_TDSI08001ENC_WEB.pdf&g...;
(EMCDDA) the cost of prohibition, i.e. the public expenditure related to
drug policy implementation at a European level reaches 34-40 billion
Euros annually (90% representing control and enforcement and only 10%
health and prevention). The same report mentions that at a European
level 60% of the incarcerated users for drug offenses are cannabis users
accused of possession.
In my own country, Greece, the impacts of prohibition and repressive
drug policies over the past decade are more than overwhelming. Polydrug
problematic use is out of control and is expected to increase
dramatically due to the ongoing economic crisis, because of increased
consumption by young people and marginal groups (i.e. unemployed) and
decreased health related public spending. In 2011 almost half of the
total prison population were incarcerated for drug related offenses and
the majority of them for possession and use, while there was a dramatic
increase by 1000% of the HIV/AIDS infections among heroin users. A new
synthetic drug (Shisa) made out of chemical detergents has prevailed
especially among migrant opiate users in city centers, six thousand
people wait in line for reitox programmes with methadone, while
registered problematic heroin users exceed 27.000 people, living in
dreadful conditions.
A few months ago we almost had a victory but the unstable political
system and the austerity bail outs did not let it happen. After seven
years of intense campaigning and lobbying we managed to have the
introduction of a new draft drug law in the Greek Parliament, one that
would not provide permanent solutions but was nevertheless moving in the
right direction, since it would decriminalize use and possession of all
drugs and would render self cultivation of cannabis for personal use as
a minor offense. Unfortunately, a conservative minority objected
strenuously and even though the draft law passed the Parliament
committee it did not reach the Plenary. We all look forward to a
progressive governance coalition, after the next elections, that would
unblock the new drug law.
The international community is reacting strongly, at all levels,
however. For yet another year the Global Marijuana March, in more than
200 cities worldwide, brought hundreds of thousands of people into the
streets to protest for their fundamental rights and ask for more fair
and human drug policies along with cannabis legalization.
In Latin America there are many initiatives lately by former and current
presidents of state, towards a model of legal regulation in order to
combat organized crime. The president of Costa Rica
<
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-01/costa-rica-calls-for-debate-on-drug-leg...;
declared recently that legalization of drugs in Latin America would lead
to decreased violence and criminality related to drug trafficking,
following the example of the Guatemalan president
<
http://www.insightcrime.org/insight-latest-news/item/2260-guatemala-pushes-drug-...,
while the presidents of Mexico and Colombia
<
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/11522-santos-seeks-united-stance-o...;
have also expressed opinions along this line.
The Presidents of Guatemala, Costa Rica and Panama recently held also a
historic Drug Legalization Summit
<
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2012/mar/25/central_american_presidents_hold... for the first time, regional heads of state have met explicitly to
discuss ending the war on drugs as we know it.
To conclude, spasmodic repression reactions, like the seizure of
dispensaries in California and the Bilbao Cannabis Social Club, even the
introduction of the wietpass in Netherlands lately, clearly depict the
signs of a dying beast. Until the truth shines, which is the best
prevention, we will cultivate our fundamental rights and fight for the
obvious.
By Michalis Theodoropoulos
Member of ENCOD board, MEP Assistant for the Greens in the European Parliament
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