France backtracks on ban of ‘pro-drugs’ publications

Date: 21/11/1996

EUROPEAN booksellers and publishers are breathing a sigh of relief that the French have backtracked on plans to outlaw 'pro-drug' literature.

Under suggestions drawn up by Paris for a joint action harmonising EU laws on illegal drugs, all publications encouraging the use and production of illegal narcotics would have been banned.

But strong resistance from more liberal member states led to a considerable softening of the proposals at a recent meeting of high-level officials.

Diplomatic sources say the original wording could have had some far-reaching and bizarre repercussions.

Although publications describing in detail how to cultivate and prepare narcotics would clearly have been covered, the line would quickly have become blurred. Some feared the works of authors such as Aldous Huxley, Arthur Rimbaud and even the former Italian MEP Marco Taradash could have been in legal peril under the original plan.

But some diplomats say that even the revised formulation would amount to a political commitment to censorship.

According to the latest text, member states would agree to ban and punish any public incitement to use or cultivate narcotics illicitly, as far as their constitution allowed it.

As a result, Sweden, where free speech is enshrined in law, would be exempt from the measure. But countries without such guarantees might face some difficult decisions.

The current text will be discussed by justice ministers at their meeting next Thursday (28 November).

The joint action aims to close gaps in existing international cooperation, but not to interfere in areas where cooperation is already well under way. That includes sewing up legal loopholes for new chemical drugs to stop amphetamine derivatives escaping the strict definitions found in international law.

Member states would also agree that drug traffickers merit the severest anti-drugs penalties - in general already the case - and call for greater coordination between the police, customs officers and the judiciary.

Other measures would include a crack down on the illicit cultivation of narcotic drugs, illicit intra-EU traffic and 'drug tourism'.

But some diplomats doubt the effectiveness of any form of joint action given continued splits over drugs policy between the Netherlands and France.

Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok said last week that the French proposals contained much that was positive, but added: “Where the French document seeks to transcend national borders and influence domestic legislation, it is of course going too far. National legislation is the business of national governments and not of Europe.”