Subj: UK: UK out of step as EU takes new approach to problem



Date: 17 Feb, 2000



Source: Guardian, The  (UK)







UK out of step as EU takes new approach to problem



Europe: Emphasis is shifting away from jailing users

Alan Travis



Europe is shifting towards the decriminalisation of the

possession of drugs for personal use, according to an

official report on drug policies across the continent.



The annual report of the EU's monitoring centre for drugs

and drug addiction said that while most member states

rejected extreme solutions such as full legalisation or

harsh repression, there was increasing recognition that the

prosecution and imprisonment of individuals with drug

problems caused even greater difficulties.



The report revealed that the hardline UK policy of

continuing to criminalise all those arrested for cannabis

possession was beginning to look like an old-fashioned

stance.



But it added that while the trend in many states was to

reduce the emphasis on prosecuting and imprisoning drug

users, the number of people arrested for drug possession

offences was increasing across Europe. The report said that

this contradiction suggested some need for "fine-tuning

theory and practice within the criminal justice system".



Although most states continued to ban illicit drug use, the

report from the Lisbon-based institute said there had been

a shift to liberalise the penalties or administrative

measures used to enforce it.



At the same time "harm reduction" policies such as needle

exchanges, providing injection rooms or even prescribing

heroin, were becoming mainstream policy in the EU.



The traditional distinctions between illegal drugs such as

cannabis and cocaine and legal recreational substances such

as tobacco and alcohol were also being blurred. In France,

Germany, the Netherlands and Austria the government agencies

that provided treatment and prevention programmes involving

illegal drugs now also dealt with tobacco and alcohol.



In Germany the term "addiction prevention" was used rather

than "drug prevention" so as to emphasise the danger of

addictive substances regardless of their legal status.



The report said Portugal was considering decriminalising the

illicit consumption and possession of drugs for personal use

as part of reform of its drug laws. In Belgium the

occasional cannabis user, if arrested, would find nothing

more happened than that the drugs were confiscated and a

police report filed. It was a pattern being repeated across

much of the EU.



Nevertheless the report said that arrests for drug-related

offences had been steadily increasing since the mid-1980s.

This might partly reflect the increasing use of illicit

drugs. The EU estimated that 40m people had used cannabis in

the 15 member states.



The survey said problem drug use was lowest in Germany,

Austria, Finland and Sweden and highest in Italy, Luxembourg

and the UK.