SWEDEN INCREASINGLY ALONE IN THE FIGHT AGAINST DRUGS

The increasingly solitary Swedish resistance is tempering the EU's
liberalization moves to some degree. But several of the EU countries are
now on a path to decrease or modify punishments for illegal drugs.

As recently as this spring the Attorney General of Belgium ordered police
and prosecutors to cease prosecutions of cannabis use, posession or
cultivation. The idea is that the lawenforcement resources instead shall be
used to prosecute traffic in "heavy narcotics". At this moment, authorities
in Liege - the third largest city in Belgium - are debating a plan to
legally prescribe established heroin to users.

Great Britain has since several years a similar program in place in the
city of Liverpool. Since last year a very public campaign to legalize
haschish and marijuana has been mounted in that country. The newspaper
"INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY" has received numeous signatures on it's petions,
many from celebrities, as well as two prices for "public courage" for
efforts here.

The Blair Government appears to have taken little notice of this campaign
with one notable exception: Dr. Geoffrey Guy has received official permit
to cultivate cannabis for medical research.

In the past six months several reports about the beneficial use of
marijuana and cannabis in the treatment of various medical conditions have
been published in Great Britain. Dr. Guy's research will further
investigate US reports on the use of cannabis to ease the spasms of MS and
epileptic patients. The Scientific Committee of the House of Lords
recommends now that marijuana and cannabis be legalized for medical use.

In France a celebrity campaign launched this spring is working to legalize
"soft drugs". Among the signatories to a campaign called: "I have also
smoked haschish" is, among others, Doninique Voynet, Minister of the
Environment. The campaign has has several mass meetings in French cities.

This June, a scientific study, ordered by the French Govenment, said that
haschish is the least damaging of the commonly used drugs and mush less so
than for example alcohol. The report was authored by the French State
Institute INSERM.

However, as of now the French Govenment shows no signs of relenting and
when recently one of the leaders of the campaign sent marijuana cigarettes
to members of the Parlament he was heavily fined.

The European debate of possible roads to attacks on the problem of
narcotics is primarily played out in the EU Parlament. There is a clearly
defined front between on one side the Swedish parlamentarians of all
political color and , on the other side, the mostly leftist "narco-liberals".

This debate is terribly important says Charlotte Cededschiold even though
EU cannot decide on national narcotic policies. The parlamentary group
headed by Ms. Cederschiold is unifying the entire conservative side against
any liberalization. Ms Cederschiold says that: "If we permit a picture of
public support for a liberalization to emerge this will become a reality by
default."

The Swedish resistance, she says, it highly important since a EU commission
is now attempting to formulate a new drug policy. The basis for this policy
and debate contains written conclusions with which the Swedish group
strongly disagreed . It said, in part, that: "... legal prohibition... is
not satifying nor in the least adequate."

"The Swedish EU Parlamentarian group, in spite of being small, has made a
difference in the discussions since it presents a well formulated and
homogenous front" says Arthur Gould, a british researcher, who has studied
the Swedish narcotic policies.

Checked-by: Richard Lake