Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-02-13-Speech-4-013"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2003-02-13"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:Drug dependence2
dcterms:Language	"en"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20030213.2.4-013"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2003-02-13-Speech-4-0142
lpv:speaker	lp:John Bowis2
lpv:spoken text	"Madam President, I would like to thank the rapporteur for her report and the Commissioner for bringing forward this proposal. I think the Commissioner is right at this stage that it should be a recommendation. There are different cultures in different Member States and we need to respect that, and so recommendations on good practice are probably the way forward at this stage. I should also like to point out to him and to you, Madam President, that he needs to go through the text of his communication to make absolutely certain there is nothing in it which will frighten people into thinking that this recommendation is in any way promoting drug use. There is no safe drug abuse, it is a question of how we reduce and prevent the harm that arises from such abuse. In my country we have 3 million people on illegal drugs, 28% of them are 16-29 year olds, 14% of them are 14-15 year olds. We have 12 000 new notified addicts, 70 000 drug offences and 1 200 drug related deaths per year. If you look at the European figures from the MCDDA, offences in the EU have doubled since 1991 and quadrupled in some countries such as France, Greece and Spain. Acute drug related deaths have doubled since 1985. There are those who use the same arguments as we sometimes hear on AIDS, saying that we can forget about those people who are infected, but should protect and save the rest. However, we must not abandon people who are hooked. Many of them, as those figures show, are children. We are losing the battle but we must not give up the fight. Our aims must be to target the growers and manufacturers, the traders and pushers, and to educate, deter and prevent, but also to reduce the harm to those addicted and to those with whom they come into contact. This recommendation does exactly that. No Member State is forced to do anything. This sits alongside measures on prevention. To my colleague Mr Santini I would say that if his amendments 60, 61, 63 and 64 were in addition to the proposals in this report then I would be happy to accept them. It is only if they replace the proposals that I am less happy. This is not the occasion for a debate on legalisation and I know there are some amendments on that. That is why I would reject the legalisation and decriminalisation arguments on this occasion. The report does not replace harm reduction with other measures, least of all 'JUST SAY NO', which does not work. I know that from having been Minister responsible for drug addiction in my own country. You have to tell young people in particular the truth. They have to know the upside as well as the downside. We had the case of Leah Betts, a young girl who died taking ecstasy, an amphetamine. Afterwards, her parents very bravely allowed a video of her body to be shown, so that young people would understand the effect of taking ecstasy. They also joined us in making sure that we issued guidance to night clubs on how to avoid this catastrophe affecting other people. It is a question of water provision and 'chill-out rooms' and so on, and not a question of 'shooting rooms', which is a completely different matter. There are so many young people who need and deserve our support. There are needle exchanges, which protect not just the addicts, but also the people with whom they are in contact. Prison health needs to be looked at and we need to stop the abuse of drugs in prison, but we also need to ensure there is harm reduction and that we do not incorporate perverse incentives to further drug taking. I welcome this report. The whole subject needs to be treated with care, and I know the Commissioner will ensure that this is the case as we move forward to take on good practice throughout the European Union."@en1
lpv:spokenAs	unknown; Conservative and Unionist Party (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3 member; Committee on Development and Cooperation (2002-05-30--2004-07-19)3 vice-chair; Delegation to the EU-Kazakhstan, EU-Kyrgyzstan and EU-Uzbekistan Parliamentary Cooperation Committees and Delegation for relations with Tadjikistan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia (2002-02-07--2004-07-19)3 member; Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy (2002-01-17--2004-07-19)3 member; EPP-ED (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3 member; Members from the European Parliament to the Joint Parliamentary Assembly of the Agreement between the African, Caribbean and Pacific States and the European Union (ACP-EU) (2002-02-06--2004-07-19)3
lpv:unclassifiedMetadata	"Bowis (PPE-DE )."1

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