3500 DRUG EXPERTS TO HOLD WORKSHOPS

The ECDP (European Cities on Drug Policy) will bring together 3,500
international experts to take part in a workshop in which participants will
exchange ideas with a view to bringing pressure to effect a change in the
drug laws.

Founded in 1990, it is supported by members' contributions with assistance
from the European Union.

Advice will be offered to those towns which feel themselves constricted by
the drug laws. "If a Greek town wants to set up a methadone program but
lacks the know-how, we help mediate the contacts," explained the executive
director, Susanne Schardt.

31 towns, from Agii Anargiri in Greece, to Basle, Hamburg, Innsbruck,
Ljubljana, Zagreb and Zurich have signed the 1990 Frankfurt Resolution
which states: "A drug policy which treats addiction exclusively as a law
enforcement problem, and makes abstinence a precondition for the granting
of assistance, is doomed to failure."

Citizens would still be entitled to protection from the effects of any
problems arising from drug policies.

Checked-by: Richard Lake