(Translator's note: This is couched in exceptionally frank, unambiguous
terms. It shows that 'over there' there are some politicians willing to
'tell it like it is'. Signs of health here and there in the body politic. pd)

DRUG-FREE SOCIETY AND EUROPEAN REALITY

Innsbruck - The task of determining whether addiction is to be categorized
as a crime or a medical condition is "a burden which remains constantly on
the backs of those concerned," says an angry Helga Oberarzbacher, Drug
Policy Coordinator for the province of Tyrol.

European drug policy is confronted with the US model which is based on the
ideal of abstinence. "There never has been and there never will be a
drug-free society," contends Oberarzbacher, and points to the recent UN
Vienna conference which concluded that in the realm of drug policy, "it is
unproductive to dictate from above". Regions should be left to implement
their own policies.

In Tyrol, these consist of a number of "ground-swell movements" which "deal
with drug dependents where they are."

Within the parameters of the "European Prevention of Addiction Week,"
Oberarzbacher, has organized a highly charged symposium which runs from
Wednesday to Friday. Highlight Wednesday will be the controversial
"Criminal Law and Addiction" to be addressed by Hans-Jorg Albrecht,
Director of the Max-Planck-Institute for International Criminal Law in
Freiburg. Thursday's guest lecturer will be the Berlin Sociologist Gerburg
Treusch-Dieter who, on the general theme of "Bodies, Chemistry, Society,"
will deliver a thesis on `Ecstasy' as an example of the "Symbiotic
relationship between technology and drug consumption."

The closing session will be devoted to a discussion of Drug Policy and will
be addressed by Paul Vasseur, chairperson of the ECDP - European Cities and
Drug Policy - an association of 31 towns and regions.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski