Peace On Drugs Breaks Out In Brussels

According to the latest weather reports, Monday 3 and Tuesday 4 March 2003 should offer perfect conditions for spreading seeds of peace.

Therefore, the International Coalition of NGO’s for Just and Effective Drug Policy has decided to grab this opportunity to launch its International Campaign ‘Spread the Seed’ aimed at a fundamental reform of the three United Nations Conventions on Illicit Drugs signed in 1961, 1971 and 1988.

On Monday 3 March, from 13.00 to 18.00, hundreds of balloons filled with cannabis, opium and coca leaf seeds will be launched during a Public Manifestation on the Place de la Monnaie in Brussels.

On Tuesday 4 March, a Public Hearing will take place in the European Parliament (Room PHS 4B 01) under the title ‘VIENNA 2003: A Chance for the world For Another Drug Policy’. From 9.00 to 18.30, a long range of experts on drug policy from all over Europe will address the reasons why drug policy reform is urgently necessary, while at the same time indicating what could be the concrete steps that European governments could take to make this reform possible.

The goal of the campaign is to convince European politicians of the need to present, at the forthcoming meeting of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, from 8 to 17 April 2003, a proposal for a new international agreement that should allow individual countries to regulate the production, distribution and consumption of drugs without necessarily maintaining prohibition as the basis for these measures.

Farid Ghehioueche, ICN-campaign coordinator, says: “We are sure that launching balloons with cannabis, opium and coca seeds will benefit earth. Drop no more bombs or chemicals, drop the war on drugs. We want all people to be mobilized as one, like if earth was in danger and our common need for peace on drugs was a genuine solution.”

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