From: [s--ev--c] at [amon-sul.tivoli.com] (Steve Cochran) Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs Subject: Re: Define hard drugs. Date: 25 Mar 1994 19:11:31 GMT [t--w--l] at [elcsci.com] (Loyd L Towe) writes: >> would someone please define for me, the term 'hard drugs'. which drugs are >> these, and what does it take to be a 'hard' drug. I posted this a year and half ago, but it seems like it could use a re-post. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is from the Drug Policy Foundations "Drug Policy Action," Winter 1992. European Study Panel Suggests Refocusing Drug War ------------------------------------------------- A sepcial European Parliament committee of inquiry on drug traficking and organized crime has recommended that member nations take a serious second look at their drug wars. The report is a forward-looking attempt to coordinate the European Community's response to drugs as the nations prepare for unity in 1992-93. Though the panel has no legislative authority it was set up at the urging of more than a quarter of the parliament. Italian Radical Party member Marco Taradash, a coordinator of the International Anti-Prohibitionist League, served as vice chair of the commission. Broadly, the panel urged a reconsideration of the priorities that now dominate anti-drug campaigns in most European nations. The panel counseled a deemphasizing of law enforcement against drug users, and supported harm reduction measures such as needle exchange and wider, freer access to drug treatment. it's report also proposed a scale of differentiation between illegal drugs that could be useful in formulating future policies. The scale was as follows: Ultra-hard drugs: heroin, crack hard drugs: morphine, cocaine, phencyclidine, methadone, pethidine medium-hard drugs: amphetamines, barbituates, LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, chemical solvents and absinthe. medium-soft drugs: opium, hashish, khat, coca, tobacco, distilled alcohol soft drugs: cannabis, fermented alcohol, peyotl, hallucinogenic mushrooms, codeine and tranquilizers ultra-soft drugs: tea, coffee and chocolate In calling for a "cost-benefit analysis of the present policy on drugs," the committee pointed out that only a tiny percentage of illegal drugs bound for Eurpoean markets are intercepted. "It is therefore necessary," the report stated, "to assess whether--assuming it were possible--a determined increase in the effectivness of repression could deal a significant, or even fatal, blow to the traffic or whether other stategies should not be considered." For a copy of the committe's report, contact the Drug Policy Foundation. The Drug Policy Foundation 4801 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Suit 400 Washington, D.C. 20016-1087 U.S.A. phone: (202) 895-1634 fax: (202) 537-3007 just a satisfied member, steve -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | steve cochran | tivoli systems inc, austin, texas | pgp spoken here | [s--ev--c] at [tivoli.com] | (512) 794-9071 / (512) 794-9929 fax | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- by the cold and religious we were taken in hand, shown how to feel good and told to feel bad roger waters