Wednesday, May 19th, La Società della Ragione held a press conference at the Press Room of the Chamber of Deputies in Rome.

La società, an Italian civil society appeal intitative backed by prominant policy makers, has officially announced its campaign against the new Italian repressive drug law reform initiated by Deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini, whose bill was presented to the Italian Parliament last week. The conference included speeches by Franco Corleone of Forum Droghe, Marco Taradash, former MEP and MP, and Vincenzo Siniscalchi, MP, and was followed by a question and answer period with journalists.

• La Società della Ragione
  
• Forum Droghe
  
• fuoriluogo.it
  

The new Italian repressive drug law reform initiated by Deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini is out of step with the European trend of progressive, evidence-based policies favoured by the majority of European Union countries, says ICOS, an International drug policy think tank.

“The proposed law reform will take Italy backwards rather than forwards”, said ICOS, “Italy currently has a drug policy based on prevention, rehabilitation-orientated treatment, reintegration and evaluation. We are concerned that the new law will undermine the progress made by Italy and the European Union over the past 2O years in producing an effective and realistic drug policy.”

If European drug policy is to pave the way and be a leader on the international scene in terms of drug policy, action needs to be taken to preserve the general European consensus which EU has been working hard to create. The censure by the Italian delegation of these very policies at the EU Drug Strategy Conference, “The Way Forward” in Dublin last week is endangering the progress of Europe and European countries finding a policy that works.

Examples of innovative European policies are harm reduction measures such as needle exchange programmes, methadone or heroin distribution, safe injection sites and substitution treatment programmes, which have not only substantially reduced the spread of HIV/AIDS, but which contribute greatly to the community in terms of security and community welfare.

“International drug policy faces a crucial challenge”, said Mr Emmanuel Reinert, Executive Director of ICOS. “If progress is to be made at the European or International level, individual countries must not be allowed to undermine the progress made so far.”

For the past decade under current Italian law, the simple possession of drugs is not prosecuted. The reform proposed by Mr Fini would not only make the possession of illicit substances an offence, once again introducing drug users into the already clogged criminal system, but it also denies the application of harm reduction policies, which have been proved to be efficient over the past twenty years.

As part of the EU, Italy should take its responsibility towards its citizens and neighbouring countries, by endorsing the European consensus and stay away from the United States’ influence. To safeguard the future of international and European drug policy, ICOS urges Italy not to enlist in another repressive US “Drug War” which has proved to be inefficient and damaging, but instead work towards a comprehensive, realistic and up-to-date approach alongside the rest of Europe.