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Europe:
New
Italian
Government
to
Move
to
"Reduce
Damage"
of
Tough
Drug
Law
6/16/06
As one of its last legacies, the rightist government of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi passed a tough new drug law in February that treated people in possession of more than five grams of marijuana or similarly small amounts of other drugs as if they were drug dealers. Under the new law, possession of lesser amounts still subjected people to drug treatment and/or other administrative sanctions.
Berlusconi and his center-right coalition lost power after the April elections, and the new government is signaling it will move to ameliorate the law's harsh impact. "We do not know what act we will issue yet, but it must cause a reduction of damage with respect to the current law," said Welfare Minister Paolo Ferreri last week outside a National Committee for Rehabilitation conference in remarks reported by the Agencia Giornalistica Italiana (AGI). "There will then be a comprehensive modification... through which there will be a clear separation of light drugs from heavy drugs, because the most worrying aspect among the youth is the lack of awareness of the different dangers of drugs." Minister Ferrari also reiterated the commitment of the left-leaning Union coalition led by new Prime Minister Romano Prodi to decriminalize drug possession. "It is also necessary to make consumption a non-penal infraction along with the improvement of administrative measures," Ferrero said. "It is therefore necessary to differentiate between the dealing of drugs and the consumption of them, setting up talks with consumers to explain the true dangers of heavy-duty drugs." By early this week, pressed on recent, well-publicized arrests of young pot smokers, Ferrari was ready to go a little further. In an interview with Radio Radicale, he said his team "is working hard in order to find a rapid solution -- certainly by the end of the year -- against the negative effects of the Fini-Giovanardi law." Not only must use be decriminalized, but even administrative sanctions must be abolished, he said. As for the pot arrests, those shouldn't even be happening, he said. The new Italian government is talking the talk. Time will tell if it walks the walk.
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