RESOLUTION on the combating of drugs

The European Parliament,

A. having regard to its resolution of 10 March 1980 on the fight against drug abuse (1) in which it instructed its appropriate committee to draw up a report on drug-taking,

1) OJ No C 85, 8.4.1980, p. 15.

B. whereas drug-taking is a complex social problem which cannot be studied in isolation,

C. whereas drug-taking is constantly spreading to new sections of society bringing with it serious human, social and economic consequences,

D. whereas in the light of the scale of the problem the measures taken at local and national level to combat drugs could usefully be complemented at Community level and subsequently also at international level,

E. having regard to the report by the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection (Doc. 1-1079/81),

1. Notes the increasing use of drugs, notably psychotropic substances, in the Community Member States;

2. Deplores the fact that the Commission took no action on the European Parliament's 1972 resolution on the drugs problem (Laudrin report, Doc.229/71) which was then still a relatively small one;

3. Notes that the use of drugs has dire consequences for both the drug-takers and society;

4. Calls on the Commission to compile more detailed information on the use of drugs in the Community.

To this end the Commission:

(a) should supplement its statistics with information from services such as the anti-drugs centres, hospital casualty departments, local associations or any other organizations,

(b) should have appropriate financial resources to enable it to collect and collate the necessary information in each Member States;

5. Calls on the Commission to:

(a) coordinate the studies and research carried out in the various Member States on drug problems,

(b) promote the exchange of information between the relevant organizations in the Member States and international organizations such as the UN Commission on Drugs and the International Organization for the Control of Drugs,

(c) prepare and distribute information pamphlets to educate the public,

(d) organize recurrent information campaigns on the organizations concerned;

6. Calls on the Commission to submit a report to Parliament in time for the necessary financial arrangements to be provided for in the Community's 1983 budget,

7. Calls on the Commission to study the operation and results of programmes to promote the diversification or substitution of crops from which drugs are manufactured and to consider whether new initiatives could be made in conjuction with other countries and organizations such as the United Nations Fund for Drug Abuse Control, UNESCO and the World Health Organization;

8. Urges the Commission to examine ways in which it could make a useful contribution to the work of the 'Pompidou' group, particularly in the light of the final communique of the sixth Conference of Ministers issued on 18 November 1981;

9. Instructs its delegation for relations with the United States Congress, the Latin American Parliaments, the Asean Interparliamentary Organization and the Maghreb and Mashrek countries to examine this question at interparliamentary level;

10. Urges the government of Member States which have not signed or ratified the 1972 Protocol amending the 1961 United Nations Convention on Drugs to complete this formality and to their utmost to ensure the rapid implementation of Article 15 of this Protocol;

11. Urges the government of the Member States who have not signed or ratified the 1971 Vienna Convention on psychotropic substances, their classification and control to complete this formality and to do their utmost to ensure the rapid implementation of Article 20 of this Convention and of the measures envisaged for controlling the ussue of psychotropic substances;

12. Requests the Council of Health Ministers to put the drugs problem on its next agenda;

13. Calls on the governments of the Member States to substantially increase their contributions to the United Nations Fund for Drug Abuse Control, which is financed by voluntary contributions;

14. Instructs its President to forward this resolution and the committee's report to the Council and Commission, to the governments and parliaments of the Member States, to the Council of Europe and to both Houses of the United States Congress, the parliaments of Latin America, the Asean Interparliamentary Organization and the Maghreb and Mashrek delegations.