Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-11-18-Speech-4-281"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.19991118.15.4-281"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, when I was 18 years old, there were no problems with drugs. We had of course heard that there were such things as drugs, but they were substances we were unfamiliar with and had never encountered. It was said however that some people got their doctors to supply them with substances they would otherwise not have had access to. Nor did we have open borders. We had no traffic from Third World countries, and nor did we have very much money so, even if the supply of drugs had been there, we would not, I am sure, have been able to buy them. The main point, however, was that we did not see any need for them. Today, the world looks rather different. It is open, and the Schengen Agreement has opened the borders between our countries to such a degree that we do not have much opportunity to exercise supervision.
The fact which has to be faced is that the criminal forces which are involved in the manufacture and trading of drugs have a network, resources and powers which have far overtaken the constitutional states’ ability to stop the drugs traffic. That is why there is a need for a Community policy for, in the situation in which the European Union finds itself, we must necessarily work together to combat cross-border crime.
The report we have before us is quite excellent in what it says on a number of matters, and it points out with some clarity that, if we do not step up the war against the drug barons and financiers and their money laundering, then the constitutional states, our populations and our youth will lose out in this war. But the report also contains forms of words which were voted through by the Committee and which must look perfectly harmless, especially to those unfamiliar with these matters. They are concepts like harm reduction. And who would not want to reduce harm; who would not want to help people overtaken by a form of suffering as serious as drug dependency. Naturally, we all of us want to, and what we immediately think about in this connection is treatment, which is to say efforts involving a variety of social and medical provisions. But that is not what in fact lies behind the concept. Harm reduction means something quite different in the mouths of those who do not want to see a strict drugs policy pursued. May I say that I am completely at a loss to understand that philosophy, for drug abuse is not nowadays an isolated problem, affecting only the socially needy. I am well aware that it affects people who feel isolated or who are in social need, but these in fact constitute only a few of the people who today are victims of drug abuse. What our problem today is, is that young people, who may have good home lives, at the same time feel that their lives are so empty that they need an extra lift or trip on Saturday at the discotheque and to have their mood raised with the help of a drug they are lured into believing is harmless.
In this connection, I cannot refrain from saying that I think that the speech which Mrs Buitenweg made here a moment ago is dangerous. I think it is dangerous for young people because it tempts them into believing – and I quote her – that “one can live with drugs, as is the case with alcohol and tobacco”. I am well aware that you can become dependent upon tobacco. It also takes a relatively large number of years before you get lung cancer from it. I am well aware that you can become dependent upon alcohol, and I also know that there are people who lose their lives through alcohol abuse. However, there is a crucial difference in the case of tobacco and alcohol because, in the vast majority of cases, it is possible for people to control their use of these substances to a different degree than young people who have got mixed up in drug abuse are able to control their use of drugs. I therefore want to say that it is important that, in the work that is being done within the EU, we give a very central place to having an information campaign for young people, who may today all too easily be enticed by friends of their own age and by others to try substances which are presented to them as being harmless and as things no worse to take than an extra glass of beer or an extra little whisky. It is in fact something different we are talking about here, and it has not become dangerous because it is forbidden; rather, it is forbidden because it is dangerous. So let us get away from this nonsense about decriminalisation and this tendency to trivialise the whole problem area by closing our eyes to the criminals who exploit our young people and destroy their health.
My group is a keen participant in the work which has been taking place in the Committee, and I should like to thank Mrs Giannakou for the sterling work she has done in this connection. We do not consider that, with the report we have before us and with what it contains, the definitive and best outcome has been obtained, and we very much hope that the Commissioner will be able to find still more effective and more powerful methods of combating this alarming misuse of drugs."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples