A4-0211/98

European Parliament recommendation to the Council on European cooperation in the framework of the UN General Assembly special session on (UNGASS) drugs

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament with a view to establishing a common European Union platform for the special session of the UN General Assembly on international cooperation in the fight against drugs (COM(97)0670 - C4-0113/98),

- having regard to the proposal for a recommendation to the Council by Mrs Aglietta and 60 other Members on the harmonisation of the Member States' laws on drugs(B4-1238/96),

- having regard to Article K.6 of the EU Treaty,

- having regard to Rule 46(3) of its Rules of Procedure,

- having regard to its resolution of 15 June 1995 on the communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on a European Union action plan to combat drugs (1995-1999) ((OJ C 166, 3.7.1995, p. 116.)),

- having regard to the Joint Action of 17 December 1996 adopted by the Council on the basis of Article K.3 of the EU Treaty concerning the approximation of the laws and practices of the Member States of the European Union to combat drug addiction and to prevent and combat illegal drug trafficking ((OJ L 342, 31.12.1996, p. 6.)),

- having regard to the world drug report drawn up by the UN International Drug Control Programme,

- having regard to the 1996 report of the Europol Drugs Unit;

- having regard to the 1997 European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction annual report on the state of the drugs problem in the European Union,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Civil Liberties and Internal Affairs (A4-0359/97),

- having regard to the second report of the Committee on Civil Liberties and Internal Affairs (A4-0211/98),

1. Puts to the Council the following recommendations:

(Recommendation 1)

Recognises, with the Commission, that drug policies should be based on the fundamental idea that drug addiction is not only the consequence of individual choices but is also fomented by certain social conditions which lead to the marginalisation of certain groups in society; stresses, therefore, the need to link the fight against poverty, unemployment and social inequity to the problems of both drug addiction and the production of illegal drugs;

(Recommendation 2)

Recognises the pertinence of recent declarations by the Commission to the effect that the campaign against drugs must not be reduced to a simple matter of granting funds, and that the fight against drugs cannot be conducted only at police and judiciary level;

(Recommendation 3)

Calls on the Member States and the Council, in the context of the political declaration adopted at the extraordinary session of the UN General Assembly in New York and the commitment to step up international cooperation, to introduce before 2003, in accordance with the wish expressed there, new strategies and new programmes aimed at reducing demand for drugs and preventing money laundering;

(Recommendation 4)

Calls upon the Council, as does the Commission in its communication on the special session of the UN General Assembly on drugs, to give higher priority to the policy issue of new synthetic drugs and to address the threat of organised crime with regard to drug trafficking;

(Recommendation 5)

Calls on the Member States to react to the challenge thrown down to the political class by the alarming, uncontrolled and at present uncontrollable spread of an increasingly flourishing clandestine market in synthetic drugs, the production of which requires no particular structures and to which the principles governing the present policy on drugs seem even more unsuited;

(Recommendation 6)

Notes that the divergent approaches taken to the drugs problem are currently impeding the harmonisation of laws and practices to combat drugs and calls, therefore, on the Council to gear European drugs policy, both domestic and international, primarily to a tangible strengthening and improvement of cooperation between EU institutions, Member States, regions and urban areas;

(Recommendation 7)

Calls on Member States to further focus on the social aspects and problems related to drug abuse and give priority, as does the Commission, to demand reduction policies and the diminution of health risks;

(Recommendation 8)

Calls on the Council and the UNDCP to recognise that lower prices and greater available quantities of narcotic drugs, particularly heroin, allow for no let-up in the fight to stamp out the trade in these drugs and insists that sufficient education, treatment and rehabilitation facilities be made available.

(Recommendation 9)

Calls on Member States to improve the exchange of experience and information above all on social questions and in the health field at international, national, regional and urban level, whereby social participation, social partnership and measures directed at vulnerable groups such as young people, drug addicts and former addicts get special attention;

(Recommendation 10)

Calls on the Member States to work for the compilation of comparable statistical criteria in drug matters and to increase research cooperation on the biological, medicinal and socio-economic consequences of drug abuse and their effects on human health and life expectancy;

(Recommendation 11)

Calls on Member States to recognise the discrepancy between the actual laws on problematic drug use and their application and enforcement in practice; and therefore calls for a study on the extent to which these discrepancies are compatible with the narcotics conventions which have been ratified;

(Recommendation 12)

Asks Member States, in line with the Commission communication regarding the special session of the UN General Assembly on drugs, to acknowledge the importance of a balance between an idealistic approach aimed at a drug-free society and the positive effects of a pragmatic approach;

(Recommendation 13)

Considers that national, urban and regional projects on the diminution of health risks, the reduction of demand for drugs, treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts and crime prevention and research into the adverse effects on health of the various different drugs should be carefully analysed to find out whether they can provide new methods to curb the problems involving drugs;

(Recommendation 14)

Recognises, as regards developing countries, the importance of finding new methods to reduce the problems involving drugs, including the participation of local communities in planning initiatives for the reduction of drugs consumption and drug-linked crop production;

(Recommendation 15)

Considers that any development of new methods of combating drugs must be carried out by persons with sound scientific training and be the subject of a scientific assessment;

(Recommendation 16)

Calls on the Council, in accordance with the programme of Community action on the prevention of drug dependence, and taking into account national policies and regulations, to allow local and regional authorities to develop at their appropriate administrative levels initiatives to reduce the harmful effects and curb demand;

(Recommendation 17)

Calls on the Member States to do all in their power to ensure that the right to adequate medical treatment, nursing, care and relevant rehabilitation also applies without exception to those dependent on drugs. These measures, which shall be taken by health and nursing and social services working in cooperation with each other, must be controlled by persons with medical competence and aim to make the addict free of any dependence;

(Recommendation 18)

Urges the Council to make more funds available for the prevention of drug demand as well as for information and education addressed particularly to young people, the family and the groups most affected by the problem of drug addiction; a harm-reduction policy and improvement of the health and care facilities and therapeutic communities for those dependent on drugs should, according to the Treaty on European Union, be decided in each Member State;

(Recommendation 19)

Urges the Member States to make more funds available for detoxification, rehabilitation and other healthcare facilities for those dependent on drugs, with the aim of a drug-free life;

(Recommendation 20)

Calls on the Council to make an independent, scientific, objective and rigorous assessment in the Member States of the UN conventions on drugs, with a view to updating and supplementing them, so as to take account of the rapidly developing and changing nature of new synthetic drugs;

(Recommendation 21)

Calls for the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) to present a number of indicators on the basis of which such an assessment can be made and requests the Member States to collaborate in the compilation of such homogenous data;

(Recommendation 22)

Asks the Member States to support the Commission's plan to propose a package of measures ranging from the improvement of comparable statistics among the Member States - thus permitting better evaluations - to a better exchange of information on the most effective practices currently applied by the Member States;

(Recommendation 23)

Regards the activities of the EMCDDA in the field of demand reduction and control as being of major importance; stresses, therefore, the need for correct and comparable statistics, and for evaluations of the different anti-drug strategies in the Member States; takes the view that Parliament and the Council should be informed of the results; calls on the EMCDDA to step up its research in the field of the control and the reduction of the supply of drugs;

(Recommendation 24)

Calls on the Council to confirm and strengthen its commitment to the UN conventions of 1961, 1971 and 1988 and to provide UN member states with a political impetus with the objective of making the fight against drugs and organised crime, including the new threats created by synthetic drugs, the focus of international concern and an integral part of key policies;

(Recommendation 25)

Calls on the European Union to better coordinate its anti-drug activities with the appropriate UN bodies;

(Recommendation 26)

Calls on the Council to consider the possibility of including the countries of Central Europe and Cyprus in the European Information Network on Drugs and Drug Addiction (REITOX);

(Recommendation 27)

Calls on the EMCDDA to propose to the Member States the adoption of a common methodology and common indicators as regards both drug supply and drug demand;

(Recommendation 28)

Points out in connection with drug trafficking the importance of making money-laundering a criminal offence in accordance with the Commission's observation that the more sanctions there are available, the easier it is to track down money from criminal sources and to set up the required international cooperation;

2. Instructs its President to forward this recommendation to the Council and, for information, to the Commission and the governments of the Member States.