From: [s--l--k] at [blkbox.COM] (John M. Sulak)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs
Subject: News from Europe on European drug laws!!!!!!!!!!!
Date: 10 Mar 1994 06:47:38 -0600

A few interestin excerpts from The European, 24 February - 3 March 1994, 
page 6:

by Mindy Ran and Paul Andrews 
report from Amsterdam on the growing international debate over
decriminalisation

...
Many politicians and civil and medical authorities across Europe, however,
want a more pragmatic approach. They say the politics and economics of prohi-
bition are impossible to sustain. Demanding a say in making new poli-
cies, they want to correct what they see as the imbalance between strict drug
laws and their enforcement. Their arguement, that suppression has failed to 
eliminate the supply and use of drugs and contributes  to the burden on society
by criminalising users, is enshrined in the "Frankfurt resolution".

This is supported by 18 European cities- including Amsterdam, Zurich, 
Basel, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Zagreb, the Rome region, and Charleroi in Belgium. 
It calls for the eventual legalisation of all drugs for personal use. The aim,
"to reduce criminality, harm, misery, and death, and liberate users from the
pressure of prosecution", is a call which is anathema to the hardliners.

...

Reluctance to enforce the law leads to wide variations in "on-the-Street"
tolerance of drug comsumption and small-scale dealing. All west European
nations except Spain and Italy theoretically penalise possession of cannabis,
even for personal use. Fines and prison sentences range from up to three
months in the Netherlands to three years in Ireland, four in Germany, five in
the UK, Greece, and Belgium, and up to ten in France. In reality, the
authorities and police limit the degree of enforcement. Throughout the Nether-
lands, personal-use prosecutions are practically non-existant. In traditionally
prohibitionist Germany, police are also seeking liberalisation. Many UK police
forces admit to a "confiscate-and-caution" policy that avoids clogging the
courts.

In fact, no country which signed the 1961 Single Convention on Drugs 
(including all EU states) is able to legalise cannabis use. The basis of global
drug control, the treaty puts cannabis in the same category as heroin. 
Officially the term "soft drug" is not recognised.

The European Parliament is also exploring new approaches to the drugs 
problem, led by Italian Green MEP Marco Taradash. "We have to recognise
the failure of present policies. They are not working and are dictated by 
United Nations conventions which we believe must be reviewed," said his advisor.
...

The EU's [new] Drugs Monitoring Centre in Lisbon has had a slow start. The 
search is still on for a director, staff and premises. But officials are 
confident that it will be operating by summer. Its brief is to supply the EU
and its member governments with objective, reliable information on drugs, and
to analyse demand, national policies, internationals co=operation and controls 
on trafficking.

[typos mine. Story from the weekly newspaper:
The European Limited
Orbit House
5 New Fetter Lane
London EC4A 1AP
United Kingdom
voice (editor) +44 (0)71-418-7777
fax (editor) +44 (0)71-353-4386