DIVISIONS OVER TACTICS DELAY UN DECLARATION

Last-minute negotiations on a new UN declaration on drugs, which is
due to be agreed and signed this week in Vienna, were still in the
balance last night with the deadline looming.

Deep divisions have opened up between countries that favour
continuing the "war on drugs" strategy, led by the US and Russia, and
those, including most EU and Latin American countries, that seek a
recognition that "harm reduction" in the form of needle exchange
programmes and drug treatments should be addressed.

"Negotiations are currently complex and we will discuss with our
international partners later this week," the Home Office said. The UK
position is that there is no reason that references to "harm
reduction" should not be included in the declaration.

The UK government strategy was spelled out last month by Lord Brett
in a debate in the House of Lords. "We want an outcome that will take
us forward in the world efforts against illicit drugs and, as has
been emphasised, the harm they cause," he said. "To secure that, we
need to build on what has already been achieved. The government's
view is that our not having made the progress that we wished does not
mean that the 1998 declaration was a complete failure, or that we
should tear down the existing system and set up a new one."

In 1998, the declaration of intent was "a drug-free world - we can do
it", which critics claimed was unrealistic and did not address the
complex nature of drug treatment.