It's official: Pot-smokers are Communists, pot prohibitionists are Fascists.

Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime

Meanwhile, same plant, two different planets.

Same United Nations, but one agency protects refugees, another saves ancient art, architecture and natural wonders, another safeguards human rights, another provides health care to children -- and another runs around screaming like a retarded clown.

Nobody's ever died from smoking cannabis, and there is no such thing as cannabis addiction. Don't believe everything you hear from a white guy in an Italian suit who gets driven around Europe in a stretch limo.

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http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n838.a01.html

The Times (London, UK)
Tuesday 27 June 2006

Contact: letters@thetimes.co.uk
Website: http://www.the-times.co.uk/
Cited: UNODC's 2006 World Drug Report
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/world_drug_report.html
http://www.mapinc.org/topics/World+Drug+Report

Italy Relaxes
Cannabis Laws

by Richard Owen, in Rome

Boosted by its overwhelming victory in the referendum on devolution yesterday, the centre-left Government of Romano Prodi has moved to dismantle yet another legacy of the Berlusconi era by overturning its "zero tolerance" drugs policy.

The change will restore the distinction between "hard" and "soft" drugs, and will increase the amount of cannabis a person can possess without being arrested as a suspected dealer.

During its first month in power the Centre Left, which won local elections last month as well as the general election in April, has reversed the policies of Silvio Berlusconi's five-year administration on issues from Iraq to significant infrastructure projects.

Livia Turco, the Minister of Health and a member of the former Communist Democrats of the Left, said today that she would act immediately on the amount of cannabis permitted, an administrative measure that does not require parliamentary approval.

She said the amount of cannabis allowed for personal use -- 500 mg -- would be doubled. Nearly 10 per cent of Italians smoke cannabis regularly, according to a recent survey. A third of Italian teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19 say they have smoked it at least once.
Paolo Ferrero, the Welfare Minister, who is a Communist, said he would ask Parliament to repeal the "zero tolerance" policy and re-establish the distinction between hard and soft drugs. The emphasis would be on "prevention rather than punishment" and "treatment and rehabilitation rather than repression." This would help to fight illegal drug-dealing by the Mafia, Signor Ferrero said.

However, Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, issued a warning this week that cannabis posed "health risks" similar to those caused by heroin.

In the 2006 World Drug Report, he said cannabis had become more potent in recent decades and Governments that maintained "inadequate" policies "get the drug problem they deserve ... Policy reversals leave young people confused as to just how dangerous cannabis is."
Daniela Santanche, a member of the Far Right Alleanza Nazionale -- the moving force behind "zero tolerance" -- said Signora Turco's decision would "send a terrible message to young people that drug use is OK."

The new drugs policy has also raised alarm among Catholic members of the centre-left coalition. The Vatican objected strongly this month when Signor Ferrero suggested that Italy might introduce supervised "shooting galleries" where heroin addicts could inject themselves in a controlled, hygienic environment.

A number of nations, including Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Australia and Canada, have supervised "drug-consumption centres." But the International Narcotics Control Board says this appears to condone hard drugs and thus undermines the UN's prohibitionist policies.

Signor Ferrero also caused a furore recently by declaring that "many professional people in Italy, including politicians" use cocaine.

Health experts say there has been an 80 per cent rise in cocaine use in Italy over the past ten years. There are also an estimated 300,000 heroin addicts.

Copyright 2006 Times Newspapers Ltd

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URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n837/a11.html

The Scotsman (Scotland)
Tuesday 27 June 2006

Contact: http://members.scotsman.com/contact.cfm
Website: http://www.scotsman.com/

CANNABIS AS BAD AS HEROIN,
WARNS UN DRUGS WATCHDOG

by Gerri Peev, Political Correspondent

THE drugs watchdog of the United Nations has rebuked the UK government's policy change on cannabis, saying it sent a confusing message to young people.

UN experts also warned that a major increase in the potency of cannabis means it now poses health risks similar to those of heroin.

The decision to reclassify cannabis as a Class C drug -- made by the Home Secretary in 2004 -- was implicitly criticised by Antonio Maria Costa, the executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, who warned of the growth in its use.

Cannabis had become more potent in the past few decades and governments that maintained inadequate policies got the "drug problem they deserve", Mr Costa said in the 2006 World Drug Report.

"Policy reversals leave young people confused as to just how dangerous cannabis is," he added. "

The cannabis pandemic, like other challenges to public health, requires consensus, a consistent commitment across the political spectrum and by society at large."

He warned governments against playing party politics with the classification of cannabis as its harmful effects were "no longer that different" to the damage caused by cocaine and heroin.
His remarks were made on UN Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

But the Home Office stood by its decision to maintain cannabis as Class C.

A spokesman said: "Cannabis is controlled as a Class C drug. It is harmful and illegal and no-one should take it. In January 2006 the Home Secretary accepted the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs recommendation that cannabis remain a Class C drug. This decision to retain its classification is supported by the police and by most drug and mental health charities."

The Home Office said that consumption of cannabis had fallen from more than 28 per cent to 24 per cent in 16-24 year olds.

Scotland has one of the worst drug problems in Europe, with an estimated 50,000 addicts. At least half a million Scots are believed to have smoked cannabis and 200,000 are believed to have taken cocaine.

Last week, Tom Wood, Scotland's drug tsar, sparked controversy by suggesting the nation had "lost the war on drugs."

The European Commission has admitted that drug abuse in the bloc and the deaths it causes have reached "unprecedented" levels and that in any given month, 1.5 million Europeans take cocaine and 12 million use cannabis.

Since David Blunkett, the former home secretary, downgraded cannabis to a class C, ministers have proposed much lower limits for possession of the drug before an individual is prosecuted as a dealer. In contrast, the Dutch parliament is considering allowing the controlled cultivation of cannabis while Italy has also taken a softer stance.

The European Commission is asking for input into its drugs policy review from July to September.

Copyright 2006 The Scotsman Publications Ltd

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