On the agenda this month was the D'Ancona report, for the Civil Liberties recommending the reform of UN conventions to permit the decriminalisation of possession of soft drugs. It also called for addicts to receive appropriate medical treatment, even if that were to include the use of hard drugs.
In the event, following a short but lively debate, and following intense political activity, MEPs decided to postpone voting on the report. This survey examines the situation in the different member states.
Penalties for drugs offences across Europe
Drug trafficking is prohibited in all member states and subject to tough jail sentences which, although different, can be as long as life imprisonment in countries such as France, Greece and Ireland, where the authorities reserve the harshest sentences for criminal groups engaged in large-scale drug trafficking. All the states include some form of legislation to provide for some leniency should addicts agree to accepting treatment. The main differences occur over laws on possession and use.
Countries, such as the Netherlands and some German states, tolerate possession of small quantities of cannabis for personal use, but just six member states, Finland, France, Greece, Luxembourg, Portugal and Sweden legislate specifically against drug use, the others taking the view that it is covered by prohibiting possession.
All UN conventions allow banned drugs to be used for medical purposes, but there is no universal definition as to what can be prescribed for addicts.
Austria
Small quantities of drugs for personal use - probation. Large quantities for distribution - up to three years' imprisonment.
Belgium
Personal use - suspension of sentence available. Other cases - fine and/or imprisonment, from three months' up to 20 years.
Denmark
Fine or up to two years' imprisonment for possession - up to 10 years' imprisonment for serious offences.
Finland
Fine or up to two years imprisonment for possession - up to 10 years' imprisonment for serious offences.
France
No specific penalty. Fine for possession - up to 10 years' imprisonment for serious offences.
Germany
Small quantities of cannabis tolerated in some states. Otherwise up to five years' imprisonment and/or fine.
Greece
Small quantities for personal use - imprisonment for between 10 days and five years and/or fine. Large quantities - between five years and life imprisonment.
Ireland
Cannabis for personal use - fine and/or up to three years' imprisonment. Other drugs - between fine and/or up to seven years' imprisonment.
Italy
Personal use - administrative sanctions, for example, suspension of driving licence. No details on other sanctions.
Luxembourg
Personal use - fine and/or three months' to three years' imprisonment. More serious cases - between one year and life imprisonment.
Netherlands
Personal use - up to 30g of cannabis generally tolerated, although there is provision for up to one month's imprisonment and/or fine. More serious cases - between one year and four years' imprisonment
Portugal
Personal use - fine and/or up to one year's imprisonment. More serious cases - up to three years' imprisonment.
Spain
Personal use - administrative sanctions. More serious cases - fine and/or up to nine years' imprisonment.
Sweden
Minor offences - fine or up to six months' imprisonment. More serious cases - between two and 10 years' imprisonment.
Britain
An unlimited fine and/or between two years' and life imprisonment according to seriousness of offence.
EU Action to combat drugs
With increasing concern among MEPs at the growing drugs problem across Europe, Council and the European Parliament endorsed in 1996 an Ecu 27 million action programme to cover the period 1996-2000 and designed to reduce dependence on drugs.
It will concentrate on improving knowledge about drug dependence, comparing and evaluating different research and health programmes in the member states. Numerous pilot projects involve co-operation between organisations based in different member states.
In 1996, a total of some Ecu 61 million from the EU's budget went towards financing drugs-related and health-awareness schemes, including Ecu 30 million to Latin America, in particular to help develop alternatives to cocaine and crack production in Bolivia. A further Ecu 5 million went to Eastern Europe to help counter increased production of precursors and synthetic drugs. A new early warning system came into force last year, to enable a swift response to be made at a European level to new forms of synthetic drugs entering the EU.
EU-backed research, concentrating on biomedicine, detection methods and the social environment, is also taking place, and some member states now produce figures showing the total cost to the country of tackling the problem.
In France, for example, the costs of dealing with the drugs problem - expenditure on police, judiciary, customs and rehabilitation programmes - came to Ecu 70.7 million in 1995. The German authorities arrived at the much larger figure of Ecu 6.7 billion for dealing with the social costs of heroin alone, when other factors such as compensation to victims suffering losses from drugs-related crime and productivity losses at work are taken into account.
Governments are aware that a plethora of differing national laws regarding the legality or otherwise of possession, and differences in penalties, only complicates moves towards a common approach.
The drugs question and the drive for a common approach
The rapid increase in drug use has led to a mushrooming of national policies and legislation to deal with the question. The removal of border controls in the single market, and the constant increase in he traffic of people and goods, including the spectacular rise in illicit narcotics, has fuelled demand for increased co-operation at a European level to deal with the threat. Media attention has tended to focus on the liberal Dutch policy of permitting possession of small quantities of cannabis, with the result that drugs are purchased by visitors from neighbouring states. All member states agree that the common objective is to maintain a balance between policies aimed at reducing the demand for drugs, and those aimed at reducing supply.
In general, EU member states recognise addiction as an illness and react in varying ways through health and penal systems. National laws are increasingly defined by supranational policies deriving from the UN and the EU, and that is why Hedy d'Ancona (Nl, PES) is advocating a change through the UN. Recent legal changes have focused on such areas as combating money laundering, and the control of chemical precursors. The most marked differences tend to relate to the severity of punishments and enforcement priorities, although member states are agreed on the priority to target criminal gangs exploiting loopholes across borders. Increasing attention is being paid to the cost of the drug problem through its social impact. Some EU countries are now publishing figures in this area. Intensive debate on devising a strategy to deal with the problem is taking place in all member states.
German politicians, for example, are raising the question of whether the use of cannabis should be decriminalised, and whether or not dealers should be dealt with differently from addicts. Proposals are now before the Bundersrat to permit heroin maintenance treatment in controlled circumstances. In some Lander, moves are afoot to authorise drug-taking by registered addicts in designated care centres.
Drug Use
Surveys co-ordinated by the EMCDDA reveal that the proportion of adults who say they have tried cannabis at some point in their lives ranges from about 5-8 per cent in Belgium, Finland, Sweden and the former East Germany, 13-15 per cent in France, the former West Germany and Spain, to about 20 per cent in Britain and 30 per cent in Denmark. More younger adults admit experience of cannabis, varying from about 10 per cent in Flemish Belgium, Finland, Sweden and the former East Germany, to around 20 per cent in the former West Germany, Spain and France, and 30-40 per cent in Britain, Denmark and Ireland.
"Ever having used a drug" could mean a single episode in the 1960s, of little relevance to today's policy decisions. A better indication of current use is the proportion who report use in the past 12 months, although, if drug use is subject to serious social disapproval or legal sanctions, people may tend to under-report recent drug use, even in confidential surveys.
The consistent picture is that only a small minority of adults who had ever used drugs admitted doing so in the past 12 months.