Legal measures to fight drug dependence
Recommendation 843
(1978)
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on 30 September 1978 (13th Sitting) (see Doc. 4202, report of the Legal Affairs Committee). Text adopted by the Assembly on 30 September 1978 (13th Sitting).
- Thesaurus
The Assembly,
1. Considering that the use of drugs and psychotropic substances is surely one of the greatest scourges of our time, and that Council of Europe member states have not been spared from it ;
2. Noting that in most Council of Europe member countries drug users are very numerous, that they are rapidly broken down in soul and body, and that it is very difficult to help them ;
3. Observing that those who are dependent on drugs frequently perpetrate criminal acts to obtain drugs or psychotropic substances, or the money to buy them ;
4. Considering that youth should be well informed of the dangers of drugs, although it is important to avoid arousing their curiosity, but that experience shows that information alone is not sufficient ;
5. Affirming that society must adopt an overall approach to drugs, the objective being to eliminate all consumption of drugs without medical justification ;
6. Realising that governments must combat illicit traffic in and misuse of drugs energetically, and that close co-operation here among the Council of Europe member states is essential ;
7. Referring to the work carried out by the European Committee on Crime Problems and other committees under the responsibility of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe ;
9. Considering that it is indeed desirable to continue and complete these activities, especially in the legal field,
10. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers :
a instruct the European Committee on Crime Problems to explore the possibility of continuing to harmonise legislation in the field of drug control and abuse at European level, and to investigate in particular :
the structures of European legislation on narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances (including the criteria for drug abuse control, types of penalty, the problems of depenalisation and decriminalisation) ;
the penal treatment of traffickers and treatment of drug users, including young people ;
the problems of alien traffickers or drug users (prosecution, extradition, transfer of jurisdiction or execution, conditions of imprisonment) ;
b inform the Assembly of the action taken by member states on Resolution (73) 6 on the penal aspects of drug abuse and on Resolution (76) 38 on research on drug abuse ;
c instruct the Steering Committee on Public Health to study the effects of the so-called soft drugs, in view of the tendencies in some countries to relax legislation on these drugs without sound scientific knowledge of their effects ;
11. Further recommends that the Committee of Ministers invite governments of the member states :
a to accede, where they have not yet done so :
to the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961,
to the 1972 Protocol amending the Single Convention,
to the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances,
to the European Convention of 28 May 1970 on the International Validity of Criminal Judgments,
to the European Convention of 15 May 1972 on the Transfer of Proceedings in Criminal Matters ;
b to mobilise increased political support for United Nations work on drug abuse, and substantially step up their contributions to regular UN budgets, as well as contributions to the UN Fund for Drug Abuse Control ;
c to provide it with information on the findings of the "Pompidou Group", set up on the initiative of the President of the French Republic in August 1971 for the purpose of achieving cooperation between European states on drug abuse control, transmit this information to the Assembly, and consider the case for giving this cooperation institutional form in the Council of Europe, so as to give the project fresh impetus, extend it to all the Council of Europe member states and to work out a coherent social and public-health policy on drug problems, in close co-operation with the appropriate organs and agencies of the United Nations ;
d to see to it that the efforts of the CDPC and the Public Health Committee in the drug field are closely co-ordinated.
