Drug war chaos continues. Another IAL update.

[Digit]

Bulletin of the International Antiprohibitionist League on the world campaign for the reform of the UN Conventions on Drugs

#.16 - YEAR I - 23 April 2003

Published in

NEWS FROM THE IAL :

CONCERNING REVISION OF THE UN TREATIES:
- The mayor of Turin, Sergio Chiamparino, has signed the petition.
- The Ferrara city council approved it as an Order of the Day.
- The European Parliament rejected the Buitenweg Report for revision of the treaties, but rejected also a Resolution calling for greater support of prohibitionist policies. According to Euro-MP Marco Cappato, the general consensus is turning increasingly pro-revision -- that at least would appear from the fact that a majority of votes favoured the proposal of setting up an international conference on evaluation and reclassification of drugs on the basis of risks to health.
- The LIA presented its World Report on Drugs at press conferences in Rome and Milan.

ITALY
Rita Bernardini's civil disobedience continues. During a spot of free distribution of hashish in Piacenza, she and Piacenza Radicali co-ordinator Cristiano Grandi were stopped by the police.


NEWS FROM THE WORLD :

2906 14/04/2003
UNITED KINGDOM
CULTIVATION
THE BBC
According to a British study, reclassification of cannabis could well encourage small private household plantations and thus wreak damage on organised crime.


2900 12/04/2003
FRANCE
CONSUMPTION
LIBERATION (Paris)
Ecstasy is ever more common among French adolescents. In 2002, 5% of the boys and 2.9% of the girls said they had tried it at least once. In 2000 the figures were respectively 2.8% and 1.4%.


2902 11/04/2003
SPAIN (Madrid)
EXPERIMENTS
EL PAIS (Madrid)
The pilot experiment of administring buprenorphine to heroin addicts allergic to methadone had ended with good results. The Madrid city is planning to include this pain-killer as a standard part of its therapy programme.


2907 12/04/2003
MALAYSIA
JUSTICE
NEW STRAITS TIMES
According to anti-drug police director Datuk Mamat Talib, 691 persons were arrested on drug charges in January-February-March 2003. According to Malayan law, 176 of these risk execution.


2905 15/04/2003
U. S. A.
LAWS
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson says that American drug laws are futile, costly and racist. The overwhelming majority of prison inmates are Black and Latino.


2908 14/04/2003
UNITED KINGDOM
MEDICINE
ANANOVA
Xenova, the British pharmaceutical firm, is experimenting with a vaccine against 'backsliders' who have quit cocaine. Experiments have entered Phase II and will take eighteen more months. The entire development project will have taken five years.


2899 16/04/2003
AUSTRIA (Graz)
PUSHING
DIE PRESSE (Vienna)
Alarm over the illegal trade in drug substitutes. Too many addicts are pushing methadone and other substances obtained on medical prescription. Physicians and pharmacists stand accused of negligence.


2903 10/04/2003
AUSTRIA
STATISTICS
DIE PRESSE (Vienna)
Year 2002 Drug Report: Compared to 2001, more spread of ecstasy and LSD, increase in cannabis cultivation, more demand for ephedrine needed to produce amphetamines. Heroin continues to come from the Balkans whilst ecstasy is cooked in East European laboratories.


then after so much good news the real kicker comes...

2901 11/04/2003
SWITZERLAND (Teschin)
THE WAR ON DRUGS
NEUE ZUERCHER ZEITUNG
Co-ordinated drives by various authorities have led to the confiscation of 130,000 hemp plants and 404 kg of marijuana in the course of a search of eight stores and eight law and fiduciary offices. Seventeen people were arrested on violation of the drug laws.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Editor in Chief: Marco Perduca
Director: Vincenzo Donvito
Layout & Distribution: C.E.D. Roma

The Liafax is published with a contribution of the Open Society Institute