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
--
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| steve cochran		| tivoli systems inc, austin, texas	| pgp spoken here
| [s--ev--c] at [tivoli.com]	| (512) 794-9071 / (512) 794-9929 fax	| 
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by the cold and religious we were taken in hand,
shown how to feel good and told 
to feel bad
	roger waters