Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-04-08-Speech-2-137"
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"en.20030408.3.2-137"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, in the Europe of our times, in the world we live in, drugs are frequently associated with crime, AIDS, social exclusion and unemployment. Drugs are, indeed, a problem threatening citizens’ health, security and quality of life, and that is why the European Parliament has committed itself to finding an effective solution to the drugs problem, which is a problem common to all countries and all social groups.
The three conventions governing the narcotics issue have already been mentioned here: the 1961 one on narcotics, the 1971 one on psychotropic substances and the 1988 Vienna Convention against the illicit traffic in these substances. These three conventions prohibit the production, traffic, sale and consumption of a wide range of substances for other than medical or scientific purposes. The proposal of the rapporteur, Mrs Kathalijne Buitenweg, is basically to amend the 1961 Convention on Narcotic Drugs through a reclassification of the scheduled substances. What the rapporteur wants – and she does not hide this – is to change the list of prohibited substances so that cannabis can be removed from this list, which, whether you like it or not, will lead to the legalisation of trade in this drug.
It is laudable that the Member States that are signatories to these conventions should meet, as will happen on 16 and 17 April, as the Commissioner has reminded us, in order to evaluate the progress made and the difficulties encountered and to debate whether there is a need to introduce changes. In this process, new strategies in the fight against drugs or the reinforcement of existing ones will always be welcome.
When, however, this report proposes a reclassification of the scheduled substances, it is trying to push for a liberalisation of the consumption of certain drugs. This is something I cannot accept. I do not believe that supporting a movement to liberalise drugs can or should be the solution for an effective fight against the growing drug problem. I consider it unacceptable that one should wish to put out the idea that the European Union agrees with the liberalisation of drugs when this is contrary to the strategy that has been followed in almost all the Member States. We have to observe the existing conventions and strengthen the means for the treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts; we have to observe the principle of subsidiarity, given that there are different drugs policies in the various Member States.
I should like to end by recalling that last month in this House we approved a report by Mr Pirker on the problem of the accelerating growth in the production of and trade in synthetic drugs, which approved extending the ban to substances which at the moment are not scheduled. Nobody in the Europe in which we live would understand if we took a different approach today."@en1
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