BBC Web Site Reports:
"Young people in Britain
are taking up to five times more illegal drugs than their European counterparts."
Makes No Mention Of Holland. Gives Links Only to Prohibitionist Sites.
(Marijuananews note: "Drug" use
surveys are an important part of prohibitionist propaganda, as is the media’s
reporting of them. Here the BBC reports on a new annual report of the European
Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), based in Lisbon.
It clearly shows that marijuana prohibition is a disastrous failure and "that
British people in their teens and 20s are more likely to take illegal drugs than young
people in countries like Germany and France."
Nonetheless, it gives no data on the Dutch experience, and it provides links only to
official and prohibitionist sites.)
December 18, 1998
From The BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_237000/237759.stm
Young people in Britain are taking up to five times more illegal
drugs than their European counterparts, according to a new report.
The annual report of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction
(EMCDDA), based in Lisbon, shows that British people in their teens and 20s are more
likely to take illegal drugs than young people in countries like Germany and France.
Britain topped the western European league on ecstasy and amphetamines and came second
for cocaine and cannabis.
Nine per cent of young people in the UK said they had tried ecstasy, compared with only
2.8% of Germans, 3.1% of French and 1% of Belgians and Swedes.
And as many as 16% of British young people said they had tried amphetamines, compared
with 1.6% of French people and 4% of Germans.
Cocaine
Britain came second in the amount of young people who take cocaine. Four per cent admit
to taking the drug.
Spain topped the league, but French, Swedish and Belgian young people were half as
likely as the British to try the drug.
Around 36% of Britons admitted to taking cannabis - the most common illegal drug in
Europe, compared with 25.7% of French people, 21% of Germans and 22% of Spanish people.
A smaller Danish survey showed cannabis use running at 43% among teenagers and people
in their 20s, 30s and 40s.
Heroin use was low across Europe. In most countries, less than 1% of people had tried
the drug.
However, it accounted for the most health problems. The report says there are up to one
million heroin addicts in Europe.
Some countries have noted a small rise in its use.
Drug trends
The report, released in Vienna on Friday, said use of amphetamines was on the rise
across Europe, while cannabis had stabilised.
Ecstasy had also stabilised in countries such as the UK where it had been around for
some time. The report said it was becoming "just another drug on the market".
There was a modest rise in cocaine use, but crack cocaine appeared to be a localised
problem.
There was some evidence that new designer drugs were beginning to catch on in some
countries.
But in general death rates from illegal drug use were stable or falling.
The majority of deaths were due to intravenous drug use which increases the risk of
other infections, such as hepatitis C and Aids.
Hepatitis C rates were still very high, but new HIV infections were falling despite the
fact that drug users were continuing to share needles.
Although drug laws vary considerably across western Europe, with
some countries not imprisoning people caught in possession of illegal drugs, drug users
made up as much as 40% of the prison population of the region.
Eastern Europe
For the first time, the EMCDDA report looks at illegal drug use in Eastern Europe and
found worrying trends.
It said few resources were put into treatment of reducing the demand for illegal drugs.
"Despite the efforts made in recent years, drug demand reduction is still a low
priority in most countries or is no priority at all," it stated.
The report says the most effective way of preventing drug use by
young people is beginning school drug education courses at an early age.
It says advertising campaigns do little to change people’s attitudes to drugs or
their behaviour.
The EMCDDA wants a more coordinated approach to gathering drug information and
strategies to reduce drug problems.
Since 1987, illegal drugs have been on the EU’s agenda, with the focus being
mainly on reducing their supply.
The British government issued a White Paper on tackling the UK drugs problem earlier in
the year. It stressed the need to reduce use among young people.
The Standing Conference on Drug Abuse says use of illegal drugs has increased eightfold
among 15 year olds in the last 10 years and fivefold among 12 year olds.
It believes the problem is bad in Britain because of cultural and
supply reasons.
(Marijuananews note: I am not sure what that means, but marijuana use should be much
higher in Holland if "supply" really were a factor. In fact it is lower. It is
also obvious that criminal penalties have little impact on use, but that can only be
hinted.)
Turning Point, the drug and alcohol abuse charity, said much of the rise in UK abuse
was due to the advent of recreational drugs, such as ecstasy.
"The seeds were set in the 60s and 70s with the hippy
culture. Recreational drugs target a much younger age group," said a spokesman.
(Marijuananews note: The BBC report has links to only three other sites. Appropriately,
one was to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction
http://www.emcdda.org/ whose
report this was.
Another was to another quasi-official
group which did have a few useful links, as noted at the bottom of the page. However, the
third link was to the Stockholm based prohibitionist organization European Cities Against
Drugs
http://www.ecad.net/Organize/mission.htm
where you will find the following:
"Cannabis products are narcotic drugs
All forms of differentiation between so-called "soft" and so-called
"hard" drugs must cease. The use of cannabis is detrimental to the health,
causes passivity and is addictive. Cannabis and certain other drugs, in some countries
regarded as being "soft" should be viewed as other types of narcotic substances
in control policy, rehabilitation and preventive measures.
Stop commercial outlets for narcotic drugs
Commercial outlets for narcotic drugs, including coffee shops, and other open drug markets
or drug scenes in European cities must be closed immediately. Police must be given the
authority to act in order to stop the open commercial outlets quickly and
effectively"
Now, contrast the above with the actual data on the Dutch experience:
Recent accounts in the U.S. press about the Netherlands drug policy have included
incorrect and misleading statistics about drug use and drug-related crimes in the
Netherlands. What follows is a short list of facts and comparisons to refute those
accounts and sources are given to permit and encourage third party verification of facts.
Supported