StopTheDrugWar, January 11 2012, by Philip Smith

In keeping with the regressive turn Dutch drug policy has taken under its conservative coalition government, the Dutch government said Tuesday it will ban khat, a plant used by people from the Horn of Africa and the Arabian peninsula for its mild stimulant properties.

"Health Minister (Edith) Schippers will soon place khat on list II of the opium law. This will make possession and trade in khat illegal," said a joint statement from the Dutch interior affairs, security and justice and health ministries.

The ban is designed to serve a dual purpose for the Dutch. First, it is aimed at reducing domestic khat consumption, mainly among Ethiopian and Yemeni immigrants. Dutch officials said social problems, including high unemployment in the Somali community, prompted the ban, although it's not clear how banning khat will boost the jobs picture for immigrants.

They also cited longstanding pressures from other European countries to clamp down on the khat trade. The ban is thus also designed to stop the use of Amsterdam's Schipol Airport as a key hub for khat destined for other European countries where it is already illegal, including Denmark, Germany, and Sweden. (Khat is also banned in the US and Canada.)

The Dutch said that more than 800 tons of khat were imported into the Netherlands last year, 80% of which was exported to other European countries.

Swedish police welcomed the Dutch action, saying they suspected profits from the trade were going to finance militants like Al Shabaab in Somalia. Swedish police estimate that 200 tons of khat are smuggled into the country each year.

"Smuggling to Scandinavia is quite substantial... we catch smugglers on the Swedish border several times a week, though probably 9 in 10 transports get through," Stefan Kalman of the Swedish police drug squad told Reuters. "This ban means a huge change for us. I expect the numbers to go down now, as smuggling becomes more difficult," he added.

The Dutch khat ban is in line with the government's crackdown on the sale of marijuana and hashish. The number of cannabis coffee shops there is declining, and a ban on foreigners in coffee shops is set to begin going into effect this year.

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert.

Le gouvernement néerlandais va interdire le khat

The filming crew of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) traveled to California and attended the International Drug Policy Reform Conference in LA to find out what are the latest development of the battle for legal marijuana in the US. We interviewed activists from several organizations, asked questions about the chances of state level ballot initiatives, we even saw how people will use cannabis in the 21st Century.

Although the Federal government of the Unites States of America lists marijuana as a Schedule I substance – that have high potential for abuse and no recognized medical use – there are recently 16 states that ignore the federal ban and made marijuana available as a medicine. There is a wide range of regulatory models from unregulated distribution in some parts of California to a centralized state control in the state of Colorado. The medical models are paving the way to the next level of regulation - in which all adults who would like to enhance their wellnes will have legal access to marijuana for personal use.

Last year almost half of Californians voted yes on Proposition 19, a ballot aiming to legalize the use of marijuana for adults. According to Gallup’s poll, this year is the first in the US history when more Americans support the legal regulation of cannabis than those who prefer the current prohibition. After so many decades, there is a significant chance now to end the war on drugs. It seems the US is slowly moving towards legal regulation. I said, slowly, because the resistance of the old prohibition regime is very strong: after all, this is a huge business for the prison-industrial complex. California, for example, is spending 10 percent of its general fund on prisons and 7 percent on higher education. And it is not only the profit motive: the war on drugs is used for social control of poor and colored communities, many say it is the New Jim Crow.

The federal government is still fiercly opposing the idea of legalization, Obama is a disappointment for many drug policy reform activists who feel betrayed by him now when the federal attorneys declared a new war on medical marijuana dispensaries. Most activists we interviewed are optimistic after all: they say it is only the question of time before Americans will vote yes in one of the next ballots and legalize the use of marijuana for adults. In two states, Washington and Colorado, activists have managed to gather signatures well in excess of what is necessary to qualify to get an initiative on the ballot. Will legalizers win the next battle? We don’t know – but our filming crew will follow up this story!

La réglementation du cannabis aux Etats Unis 

The European Drug Prevention Prize was launched for the first time in 2004. It is awarded every two years to three drug prevention projects that fully involve young people, either in the development and implementation of activities, the decision-making, the project management and/or the evaluation.

The Pompidou Group is awarding this Prize to highlight good-quality drug prevention projects that have proved success in practice in involving young people. In general, it aims to encourage the development of drug prevention work in which youth is participating actively.

The projects are evaluated by a jury of seven young people advised by experts in the field of drug prevention. The prize-winners each receive a trophy, a diploma and a prize-money of €5.000.

On 13 December 2011, during a high-level conference of the Pompidou Group, two jurors are launching the 5th European Drug Prevention Prize in Ljubljana. The Prize 2012 will be awarded at the end of the year 2012, during the Pompidou Group's mid-term conference.

In this edition, are invited to participate projects from all 47 Council of Europe member states as well as from Morocco, which has become a member state of the Pompidou Group on 1st July 2011, and from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Tunisia, which are members states of the group's Mediterranean network for co-operation on drugs and addictions (MedNET).

Download the electronic application form which is available on the Pompidou Group’s website or by e-mailing the Secretariat (follow the links below).

Fill in the application form in English or French, the official languages of the Council of Europe.

Submit the application form by e-mail to the Secretariat: dg1.preventionprize2012@coe.int

The deadline for submission is: 30 March 2012

Le prix européen de Prévention de la drogue

EuropeanDrugPolicyInitiative, January 13 2012, by Peter Sarosi

The Civil Society Forum on Drugs (CSFD) was established by the European Commission (EC) to provide a platform for informal dialogue between the EC and civil society, ensuring that grassroots experience and expertise are fed into EU policymaking on drugs. Last year the forum was upgraded by the Commission from an informal forum to an expert group, a consultative entity that helps the Commission to prepare new and implement existing legislation. Recently, the CSFD has 35 members, selected through a formal procedure by the EC based on competence and relevance in the field of drug policies. At the last meeting the CSFD was asked by the Commission to contribute to the preparation of the new EU drug strategy. The CSFD is currently working on principles and recommendations that can guide the EC and member states in drafting the new drug strategy.

Unlike the Civil Society Forum on HIV/AIDS, this forum is deeply divided along ideological lines, especially in relation to harm reduction services and to the criminalization of people who use drugs. Some members, mostly from Southern- and Northern-European countries, support the status quo based on the UN drug conventions, that is, the criminalization of all non-scientific and non-medical use of drugs and a strong emphasis on abstinence-only approaches, while others advocate for the decriminalization of drug use and a drug policy aiming at reducing the harms of drugs and respecting the human rights of drug users. Therefore it is very difficult to reach a full consensus on any issues related to drug policies.

However, a Drafting Group set up by the members of the CSFD try the impossible to come up with a document that is not only conensual but has innovative elements and added value as well. The members of the Drafting Group met in Brussels this week to discuss the draft text. Of course there were disagreements – especially on what to advise the governments on alternatives to current drug policies or what to say about substitution treatment or needle exchange. Surprisingly, there were many issues where a consensus could be reached quite easily among NGOs: that policies should be based on scientific evidence, that governments have to refocus drug policies from supply reduction to demand reduction efforts or that governments need to create forums for the meaningful involvement of civil society to drug policy decision making.

If everything goes according to the schedule, the CSFD will finalize its recommendations in March and the members of its Core Group can present the document at the April meeting of the Horizontal Working Party on Drugs (HDG), a inter-governmental body. The evalutation of the last EU drug strategy is to be published in early March, so the governments can make an informed decision about the next strategy based on evidence and advice from civil society. The new drug strategy will be adopted until the end of this year, under the Cypriot presidency.

Le Forum de la Société Civile sur les Drogues aidera la Commission européenne à élaborer une nouvelle stratégie sur la  drogue pour l’Europe

The European Commission, Directorate-General Justice, has asked the Centre for Strategy and Evaluation Services (CSES) to carry out an evaluation of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA).

The EMCDDA’s 2006 legal base requires an external evaluation of the agency every six years. Looking forward, the purpose of the current evaluation is also to help define priorities for the next EMCDDA work programme starting in 2013. In addition to evaluating the role of the EMCDDA itself, the evaluation is examining questions such as the relationship with other European and international bodies, the contribution made to the 2005-12 EU Drugs Strategy and EU Drugs Action Plans, and the role of the REITOX network. The assignment is due to be completed in March 2012.

The EMCDDA would like to invite you to complete an online questionnaire as part of the evaluation. You can access the questionnaire by clicking here. The survey will be open until 15 February. The questionnaire should take no more than 20 minutes to complete and your response will remain completely confidential. You can also ask CSES (Jack Malan, jmalan@cses.co.uk or +44 1959 525122) for a Word version of the questionnaire if you prefer to complete it off line. If you would prefer to answer the questionnaire in a language other than English, please let CSES know and if there are sufficient requests for a particular language, they will arrange for this to be done.

Actualités

Le gouvernement néerlandais va interdire le khat

La réglementation du cannabis aux Etats Unis

Le prix européen de Prévention de la drogue

Le Forum de la Société Civile sur les Drogues aidera la Commission européenne à élaborer une nouvelle stratégie sur la drogue pour l’Europe

Participez à l’évaluation de l’OEDT