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Press Release: New Anti-Drug Plan Doomed to Failure, Reformers Charge
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEÂ Â Â
JUNE 5, 2005
New Anti-Drug Plan Doomed to Failure, Reformers Charge
Failure to Consider Fundamental Reforms Guarantees Cartels Will Continue to Dominate Marijuana Trade
Â
CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications ............... 202-215-4205 or 415-585-6404
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The new anti-drug initiative for the Southwestern border announced today by the Obama administration is doomed to failure because it simply dresses up failed policies in new clothing, the Marijuana Policy Project charged today.
    "The new plan simply calls for rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic," said MPP director of government relations Aaron Houston. "The plan ignores the central problem, which is that our policy of marijuana prohibition has handed the Mexican cartels a massive market that keeps them rolling in cash, not just in Mexico, but according to the Department of Justice, in 230 American cities."
    Houston noted that federal officials have stated that 60 to 70 percent of the cartels' profits come from the marijuana trade, and that the Mexican government seems to be signaling its unhappiness with the United States' current policy. "The Mexican Congress strategically scheduled consideration of legislation to remove criminal penalties for marijuana possession to coincide with President Obama's trip there," Houston said. He also noted that Mexican ambassador to the U.S. Arturo Sarukhán called for the debate on regulating and taxing marijuana to be "taken seriously on both sides of the border" on national television.
    "Rather than trying to make America's 15 million monthly marijuana consumers go away, we need to gain control of this market by regulating marijuana like we do beer, wine and liquor," Houston said. "Any anti-drug effort that leaves the marijuana trade in the hands of the cartels is nothing but a full-employment plan for professional drug warriors and cartel bosses alike, not a serious proposal to address the problem."
    With more than 27,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.
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Cultural Baggage and Century Drug NEWS 06/04/09
European Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies -- June Bulletin
ENCOD BULLETIN ON DRUG POLICIES IN EUROPE
NR. 52 JUNE 2009
WINDS OF CHANGE
Many people think and hope that the Obama era may indeed lead to change in the drug policies of the United States. This would surely have repercussions at the international level. Not only in the consumer countries, but also and above all in those countries defined as producers. Not only the hundreds of million persons who would like to smoke their joint in peace think this way. Many more are starting to understand that drug prohibition has failed.
The goal that was announced in 1998 during the UNGASS session in New York, and then repeated ten years later, i.e. a drugs free world, will never be realized. It has become obvious that this goal cannot be maintained, as appeared from the discussions in the last CND meeting in March in Vienna.
In recent months, several events that occurred on the other side of the ocean have been received with moderate optimism by the associations and organizations that are promoting a different policy on drugs in the USA, such as NORML and DPA. Of these signals, we remind the following:
 the announcement to end the DEA raids against the medical cannabis dispensaries for patients by Eric Holder, Attorney-General and head of the Justice Department, in those states where the law allows this. Rhode Island, California and New Mexico have installed a regulation on dispensaries, while the number of states where the therapeutic use of cannabis is allowed equals 13;
 the declarations of Gil Kerlikowske, the new head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, who has spoken about a radical change of perspective in the efforts of the nation to fight drugs, beginning with the elimination of the term âWar on Drugsâ;
 the proposal to legalize cannabis for recreational use in California and the open minded declarations of governor Schwarzenegger on this possibility. Economic calculations as the subsequent taxation would bring several millions of dollars to the treasury of the State start to appear; but it would also halt the advancing violence in the southern states of the U.S. as a result of the wars between the Mexican drug trafficking cartels, and above all, it would empty the crowded American jails.
The appeal to legalization was reiterated by the hundreds of thousands of persons who participated in the Worldwide Marijuana Marches that took place in more than 250 cities all over the world in the first weeks of May. Also in the international press and on TV, voices were heard of those who explained that the end of prohibition will enable better approaches for dealing with the drug phenomenon worldwide.
From South America, the Presidents of some of the states that are most involved in coca production and cocaine traffic â such as Morales from Bolivia, Chavez from Venezuela, Correa from Ecuador and Lugo from Paraguay â have appropriated the coca leaf as the symbol of their campaign to save the planet and the âmother earthâ through a radical change of the current models for production and development.
International Conventions must be revised, that the dialogue must be opened to look into fundamental issues such as the respect of human rights and cultural diversity, and in this process of change the citizens of all countries must be permitted to play a fundamental role â citizens both of those countries that are involved in drug production as well as those where mostly consumption takes place.
Today Europe, far distant from the high ideals that inspired those who started to build the Union in remote times, is reduced to a gigantic bureaucratic apparatus that exists to the advantage of the rich and powerful.
On 26 June, the European Commission will present its next initiative on the issue, a "European Action on Drugs". When this initiative was presented at the last session of the "Civil Society Forum on Drug Policies in the EU" , a meeting of 35 so-called drug experts from several civil society organisations, it was rejected by all except the Foundation for a Drug Free Europe.
This European Union that only protects financial interests but does not have a heart, where decisions are taken by a narrow elite, is about to renew its Parliament, a perfect symbol of its false democracy. Giusto Catania, a young Italian Member of the European Parliament, at least was successful in the five year period that is about to finish, in obtaining a majority of the MEPs regarding a set of clearly antiprohibitionist proposals. Nevertheless, these recommendations were completely ignored by the governors of the Member States and by the European Commission.
And rather precisely from Italy itself, perhaps due to the vicinity of the European and administrative elections, alarming news on real censorship arrives. The "New World" Fair, that also hosts the Cannabis Tipo Forte stands (a hemp fair that reached its 5th edition in 2009), did not receive authorisation to take place during the planned dates in the end of May. The veto against the Fair by the municipality of Faenza was raised by the Democratic Party (in theory, left-wing), after pressure by exponents of the U.D.C (Catholic Party) and with the support of the central government in the person of undersecretary in charge of drug issues, Giovanardi. Satisfied with the ban, Giovanardi thanked the local Prefect and Mayor for "demonstrated sensibility in face of the issue".
Some months before, the municipality of Bologna had denied the organisers the access to the "Palanord-center", where the Fair was carried out since 3 years. Here security reasons were invoked. By "mere coincidence", the start of the renovation activities had been established 4 days before the planned dates of the fair. Still the organisers remain confident, that there still exists a freedom of expression in Italy and the Fair will be held in September.
We hope that this summer, which coincides with the beginning of a new cycle for Encod that will renew its Steering Committee, will contribute its light and heat to produce an autumn full of good fruits and new perspectives. We also hope that the winds of change that come from across the ocean can be felt in the old continent. That the European Union begins a new phase in which not only economic interests and strong powers will determine its policies. Where citizens and civil society organisations will achieve a central role in decision making. We hope that the rulers of various countries start as soon as possible to come to terms with a new international reality.
Also therefore, Encod must continue its work, trying to unite the realities that work in Europe for just and effective policies on drugs. Concrete proposals should be developed that sooner or later will have a role in the change that is about to happen. During the forthcoming General Assembly in Barcelona, we will plan a continuation of campaigns and actions that were promoted in recent years, such as the Cannabis Social Clubs. And in the near future Encod hopes to carry out a first experiment of fair trade coca tea that will be ecologically produced in Bolivia and commercialised in Europe, based on a direct contact between producers and consumers, through completely legal channels.
By Alessandra Viazzi
P.S.
ENCOD NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT:
Account: 001- 3470861-83 Att. ENCOD vzw - Belgium
Bank: FORTIS, Warandeberg 3, 1000 Brussels
IBAN: BE 14 0013 4708 6183
SWIFT: GEBABEBB
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