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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Cannabis no big deal in EU
Don Barnard Press Release
Friday 18 Feb 2005 Cannabis Becoming A 'Minor' Offence In EU A REPORT, entitled: "Illicit Drug Use in the EU: Legislative Approaches," by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction claims Cannabis is Becoming A 'Minor' Offence In EU" The full report is available online at: http://www.emcdda.eu.int/?nnodeid=3D7079 See summation Artur Radosz of NORML taken from "European Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies" [ENCOD] mailing list [1] Contact for Artur Radosz: artur@kanaba.info See also related document http://www.encod.org/rap-kaarteuropa.html ENCOD - Contact details European Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies Coalici=F3n Europea para Pol=EDticas de Drogas Justas y Eficaces (ENCOD) Secretariat / Secretariado Lange Lozanastraat 14 2018 Antwerpen Belgium Tel. + 32 (0)3 237 7436 Fax. +32 (0)3 237 0225 encod@glo.be www.encod.org Kind regards Press Office Legalise Cannabis Alliance, (Cyfathrach Cyfreithloni Cannabis) PO Box 198, Norfolk NR3 3WB http://www.lca-uk.org/ 07984 255015 donbarnard@lca-uk.org Eds. Notes: 1] summation - Cannabis Becoming A 'Minor' Offence In EU, Study Says Taken From: eurodrug-bounces@encod.org [mailto:eurodrug-bounces@encod.org] Author: Artur Radosz [NORML] Sent: 18 February 2005 10:42 To: eurodrug@encod.org Subject: [Eurodrug] EMCDDA: Cannabis Becoming A 'Minor' Offense In EU Cannabis Becoming A 'Minor' Offense In EU, Study Says Lisbon, Portugal: A growing number of European nations are amending their laws to treat the possession of small quantities of cannabis and other drugs as "minor" offenses punishable by non-criminal sanctions, according to a report released this week by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction in Lisbon. "In the EU Member States, notwithstanding different positions and attitudes, we can see a trend to conceive the illicit use of drugs as a relatively 'minor' offense, to which it is not adequate to apply 'sanctions involving deprivation of liberty,'" the report concludes. Among EU nations, the Czech Republic, Italy, Portugal, and Spain have laws forbidding the incarceration of defendants found to be in the possession of small amounts of cannabis or other drugs, absent aggravating circumstances. Several other countries - including Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands - have enacted similar policies specific to cannabis possession. However, the EMCDDA report states the implementation of administrative, non-criminal sanctions for minor drug offenders has not cut down on the number of individuals cited for minor drug law infractions - noting that over 50 percent of all reported drug offenses in the EU are for drug use and/or possession only, primarily for cannabis. (For example, 86 percent of all drug offenses in France in 2001 were for marijuana, the report found.) Nevertheless, authors reported, "Even though the use and possession of drugs for personal use are among the majority of drug related offenses reported to the judiciary, indeed the courts seem to prefer treatment [or] other social support measures and to a certain extent sanctions not involving deprivation of liberty ... when simple use of drugs is not accompanied by aggravating circumstances." They concluded, "In these countries, prison sentences do not seem to be the most effective instrument to prevent (and punish) drug use." NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre said that he found the EU's rejection of America's "Do Drugs-Do Time" drug policies encouraging, but added, "A policy that taxes and regulates cannabis in a manner similar to wine and other spirits is necessary if European nations are ever going to see a substantial reduction in the arrests and prosecutorial costs related to minor marijuana offenses." For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre or Paul Armentano of NORML at (202) 483-5500. Full text of the report, entitled "Illicit Drug Use in the EU: Legislative Approaches," is available online at: http://www.emcdda.eu.int/?nnodeid=3D7079 _______________________________________________ Eurodrug mailing list Eurodrug@encod.org http://encod.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/eurodrug
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