https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/383/peacepipe.shtml

In a call to end drug prohibition and a move to dramatize civil society's exclusion from the European Union's (EU) drug policy-making process, members of the European Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies Thursday presented a peace pipe to EU representatives at a public hearing on the future of EU drug policies. Among those offered the pipe, specially designed for the event by German water pipe maker ROOR and signed by prominent European drug legalization advocates, was EU Justice Commissioner Frattini.

"To share a peace pipe is a common ritual among various civilizations across the globe," the continental drug reform umbrella group said. "The gesture is meant to create the right atmosphere for dialog between opponents."

"Today we need symbols more than ever," said Howard Marks, former cannabis offender turned legalizer and one of the signers of the pipe. "A good dialogue will lead to far-reaching and intelligent decisions, and as the Indians already knew, sharing the peace pipe will give us the courage to do so."

The European Parliament hearing comes in the wake of the "Catania Report," a set of recommendations for drug policy reform approved by the Parliament in December. That report, named after its author, Italian MEP Giusto Catania, described current policies as inadequate, called for health promotion as the founding principle of European drug policy, and recommending creating concrete measures to ensure the involvement of civil society organizations in policy-making.

While the European Parliament has proven to have a least limited sympathy for drug reform, the EU, in which governments are represented in the Council of Europe, has not. Its new action plan, released by the European Commission in February, completely ignored the recommendations of the parliament as embodied in the Catania Report.

In addition to offering the peace pipe and addressing representatives Thursday in a bid to win support for the conclusions of the Catania Report, ENCOD has also collected more than 35,000 signatures in an online petition to support the report, the group said.

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