In a joint statement, Member of European Parliament Giusto Catania, rapporteur on drugs policy of the Committee of Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, and ENCOD, platform of European NGO’s working in the field of drugs, regret the approval, on Monday 27 June, of a new EU Action Plan on Drugs for the period 2005 – 2008.
In 2004, ENCOD approached relevant authorities and decision-makers in the European Union, to establish a serious dialogue on the issue of drugs between authorities and civil society in the EU.
Press release on the EU Conference on “Civil Society and Drugs, 26/27 January 2006
THE ENCOD LETTERS TO MEMBERS ON THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, concerning the debate on a new EU Strategy on Drugs
In the autumn of 2004, the EU Horizontal Working Party on Drugs, the formal decision-making body in the European Union when it comes to drug policies, had the task of elaborating a new EU drug strategy (2005-2012). On different occasions, the official documents of the EU institutions have stressed the importance of consultation with civil society organisations in the elaboration of drug policies. This motivated ENCOD to send a letter to the Chairperson of the EU HWPD on 30 August, containing a proposal for a sincere dialogue on the new strategy. This proposal was ignored, despite repeated efforts to insist on the need for it on 28 September and 22 October.
GOOD NEWS! ON 21 DECEMBER, A JUDGE IN SAO PAOLO DECIDED TO LIBERATE IOLANDA FIGUERAL, EXPLAINING THAT THIS WAS AN ‘EXCEPTIONAL SITUATION’. WE DON’T KNOW IF OUR LETTER CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTED TO THIS RESULT, BUT ANYWAY THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!
A group of Czech experts in drug prevention and therapy have taken the initiative for the following letter supporting Andre Furst, asking all European drug policy experts to sign it.
WRITTEN QUESTION by Giusto Catania (GUE/NGL) to the European Council
Subject: The Marc Emery case
From 7 to 11 March, the yearly Meeting of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs took place in Vienna. ENCOD Steering Committee Members Andria Efthimiou-Mordaunt and Peter Sarosi were in Vienna and sent a daily report on the things they saw and heard.
The experiences of a representative of the European NGO Council on Drug Policy while attending the conference called “The Way Forward” on a new European Union strategy on illicit drugs, which was held in the Hotel Conrad, Dublin, Ireland, on 10 and 11 May, 2004.