Push for tougher action against drug traffickers

Date: 01/08/1996

By Thomas Klau

FOLLOWING its decision to make the fight against drugs one of its priorities, the Irish presidency is set to launch a series of initiatives aimed at beefing up cooperation between member states and handing down even stiffer penalties to drug traffickers.

A six-point work programme drawn up by Irish Justice Minister Nora Owen includes a plan to foster cooperation between national forensic science laboratories, customs administrations, trade bodies and companies, as well as a review of national practices in the fight against drug smuggling.

Other measures Dublin wants to pursue include organising a conference on demand reduction, and concluding the conciliation process between the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers on an action programme on the prevention of drug dependence.

Finally, the Irish government will push for a declaration aimed at introducing sentences for “serious trafficking offences” in member states' national law which come “within the range” of the penalty for the most serious offences such as murder.

Irish officials say their programme will focus mainly on improving police cooperation and judicial repression, and are keen to stress that proposals to tackle the drug-related explosion of crime by making now-illicit drugs legally available are explicitly not on the agenda.

“Depenalisation is not going to be an issue,” said one official.

The presidency is commissioning a study to examine whether Union-wide harmonisation of anti-drugs legislation might lead to less drug abuse.

A date for the study's completion, however, has not yet been established.

“This might be examined in great depth,” said one official. “It is such a big issue.”

But the harmonisation drive pursued by some EU leaders, such as French President Jacques Chirac, has been rejected by leading experts at the newly established European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction in Lisbon, who point to the huge gap between generally repressive legislation and the de facto toleration of pockets of illicit drug dealing in many large cities.

They argue that the gap between legislation, public policy and reality is such that even if legislation was harmonised, the diversity of practices and situations on the ground would be the same.

The experts claim that even in cities as close as Glasgow and Edinburgh, the same legal provisions could lead to hugely different drugs policies.

Initial data from the European observatory, which is to publish its first full drug consumption report next month, highlights the fact that the use of illicit drugs is a widespread social phenomenon reaching far beyond a small marginal minority.

According to the figures, between 5&percent; and 8&percent; of the population has tried at least one illegal drug in Belgium, eastern Germany and Sweden, 11&percent; to 16&percent; have done so in France, western Germany and the UK, and approximately 30&percent; in Denmark.

Cannabis is being used by 10&percent; to 12&percent; of 15-to-16-year-olds in Austria and France, and 15&percent; to 20&percent; in Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands.

Meanwhile, heroin consumption seems to have stabilised in the bigger cities, but is spreading more rapidly in small towns and rural areas.