it
en
PRESS CONFERENCE WITH MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT MARCO CAPPATO AT THE UN PLAZA
Tweet
Friday 4 April 2003, 10:30 am
866 UN Plaza, Suite 408 (corner of 1st Ave. and 48th St.)
Press Conference with Member of the European Parliament
Marco Cappato (Italy)
In view of the 46th Session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs scheduled from 8 to 17 April 2003, in Vienna, and in the framework of the international anti-prohibitionist campaign of the Transnational Radical Party (TRP) and the International Antiprohibitionist League (IAL), the Hon. Marco Cappato, MEP, Coordinator for the Parliamentarians for Antiprohibitionist Action and Marco Perduca, Executive Director of the IAL will present to the press a petition to Kofi Annan and the UN Member States that calls for the urgent reform of the UN conventions on Drugs as well as a study on the first five years of the Plan of Action for the Eradication of Drugs launched at the 1998 UNGASS under the slogan “A Drug Free World We Can Do It!” by then UNDCP Director Pino Arlacchi.
On 13 December last, the document was also introduced by MEP Cappato at the European Parliament with the support of 109 MEPs (some 20% of the Assembly). Similar resolution will be presented before the legislative bodies of Colombia, Canada, Greece, New Zealand and Portugal. Over the last few months over 210 legislators from 20 difference countries and some 6000 citizens form over 80 nationalities have publicly endorsed the text. Among other things the petition:
Urges the Secretary-General and of the Member States of the UN to consider the positive results obtained through the implementation of policies in several countries, which involve harm and risk reduction (in particular through the administration of substitute substances), the decriminalisation of the consumption of certain substances, the partial decriminalisation of the sale of cannabis and its derivatives, and the medically controlled distribution of heroin,
Calls on the Secretary-General and of the Member States of the UN to take action in order to make the fight against organized crime and drugs trafficking more effective, establishing a system for the legal control and regulation of the production, sale and consumption of substances which are currently illegal;
Calls on the Secretary-General and of the Member States of the UN to initiate a process of revision of the UN Conventions, in order to reform or amend the 1961 and 1971 Conventions, with the aim of re-classifying substances and providing for other uses of drugs than only for medical and scientific purposes to be legal, and to repeal the 1988 Convention
In December 2002, Marco Cappato was awarded the “European of the Year” prize by the European Voice (Economist group). From 21 to 25 March he was incarcerated in Manchester for a drug-related civil disobedience on cannabis.
RSVP to Elio Polizzotto trp_ny@yahoo.com or (212) 980-1031
866 UN Plaza, Suite 408 (corner of 1st Ave. and 48th St.)
Press Conference with Member of the European Parliament
Marco Cappato (Italy)
In view of the 46th Session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs scheduled from 8 to 17 April 2003, in Vienna, and in the framework of the international anti-prohibitionist campaign of the Transnational Radical Party (TRP) and the International Antiprohibitionist League (IAL), the Hon. Marco Cappato, MEP, Coordinator for the Parliamentarians for Antiprohibitionist Action and Marco Perduca, Executive Director of the IAL will present to the press a petition to Kofi Annan and the UN Member States that calls for the urgent reform of the UN conventions on Drugs as well as a study on the first five years of the Plan of Action for the Eradication of Drugs launched at the 1998 UNGASS under the slogan “A Drug Free World We Can Do It!” by then UNDCP Director Pino Arlacchi.
On 13 December last, the document was also introduced by MEP Cappato at the European Parliament with the support of 109 MEPs (some 20% of the Assembly). Similar resolution will be presented before the legislative bodies of Colombia, Canada, Greece, New Zealand and Portugal. Over the last few months over 210 legislators from 20 difference countries and some 6000 citizens form over 80 nationalities have publicly endorsed the text. Among other things the petition:
Urges the Secretary-General and of the Member States of the UN to consider the positive results obtained through the implementation of policies in several countries, which involve harm and risk reduction (in particular through the administration of substitute substances), the decriminalisation of the consumption of certain substances, the partial decriminalisation of the sale of cannabis and its derivatives, and the medically controlled distribution of heroin,
Calls on the Secretary-General and of the Member States of the UN to take action in order to make the fight against organized crime and drugs trafficking more effective, establishing a system for the legal control and regulation of the production, sale and consumption of substances which are currently illegal;
Calls on the Secretary-General and of the Member States of the UN to initiate a process of revision of the UN Conventions, in order to reform or amend the 1961 and 1971 Conventions, with the aim of re-classifying substances and providing for other uses of drugs than only for medical and scientific purposes to be legal, and to repeal the 1988 Convention
In December 2002, Marco Cappato was awarded the “European of the Year” prize by the European Voice (Economist group). From 21 to 25 March he was incarcerated in Manchester for a drug-related civil disobedience on cannabis.
RSVP to Elio Polizzotto trp_ny@yahoo.com or (212) 980-1031
