Social implications of the fight against drug addiction
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- See Doc. 7688, motion
for an order presented by Mrs Vermot-Mangold, MM. Gusenbauer and
Gross. Text adopted by the Standing Committee,
acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 7 November 1996.
1. Drug trafficking and drug use are
interdependent. As the century draws to a close, they are providing
the main breeding ground for organised crime. The laundering of
the proceeds of drug dealing is posing an insidious threat to our
societies. Whole sections of the population in the producer countries
have become hostages to the drug trade. Above all, however, drug
taking is destroying the lives and future prospects of millions
of often young drug users, thus jeopardising social cohesion in
our countries.
2. The seriousness and complexity of the issue demand a comprehensive
approach. However, drug misuse is often looked at in a piecemeal
manner and tackled primarily from a legal angle.
3. The Assembly considers that the multiple implications of the
fight against drug addiction call for the application of various
types of know-how and skills, and that in any case, the prime concern
of any measures introduced must be to take account of the potential
impact on the lives of the individuals concerned.
4. Drug users are too often assimilated with offenders. They
are, thereby, victims of an implacable process of marginalisation.
Having recognised the need to combat exclusion, the Assembly is
called to foster a social approach to the treatment of drug misuse.
5. The Assembly therefore charges its Social, Health, and Family
Affairs Committee to make a study of the social aspects of the fight
against drug addiction.
