VIENNA CALLING

From 8 to 12 March 2010, the 53d annual session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs will be held in Vienna, Austria

On this meeting governments from all over the world will once again declare their support to the "global fight against drugs", that is the substances (coca leaves, cannabis, opium and their derivates) that were prohibited by a UN Convention in 1961.

ENCOD will be active out- and inside the UN building to remind governments that they are supposed to protect their citizens, not persecute them.

Vienna International Centre, 8 March 2010

Then we went in with a camerawoman and tried to interview government delegates to have their impressions on the meeting and express their views on the direction of drug policies in their country.

We finally managed to interview 4 national delegates: Portugal, Sudan, Bolivia and Uruguay.

We spoke with delegates from Ireland, USA, Spain, France, Hungary, Slovak republic, Norway, Finland, Italy, Czech Reopublic, Croatia, Netherlands and Germany. They all refused to speak on camera with the following excuses:

-I am too busy
 My chief of delegation won’t allow me to speak
 My minister won’t allow me
 I dont speak good enough english
 Civil servants are not allowed to talk to the press
 I am afraid the coming government will no appreciate what i will say
 My opinion is different from what I supposed to say as a government representative
 I just arrive I haven’t got the time to prepare

We also wanted to interview Mr. Costa, head of the UNODC, who maintained an informal dialogue with NGOs this morning. This meeting was quite typical for Costa’s way of handling things: the meeting was planned to last one hour, Costa came 15 minutes late and left after 30 minutes, did not respond to any critical question and used his favourite expression ("period", to indicate he considered his answer to be complete) several times. The man leaves his job later this year, and made very clear that he will not miss the contact with civil society.. It was not surprising to see how Costa acted, but all the more surprising to see the reaction of the NGO delegates, most of whom just accepted his behaviour. After three years in which NGOs have tried to establish some kind of dialogue with the UN drug ocntrol system, this was quite a disaster.

Comments on the official meetings and resolutions etc. will appear on the blog of the International Drug Policy Consortium

We will publish an extensive report afterwards with some comments on these meetings as well. Reading the reaction of the European delegates and hearing some of their comments during the meetings, our general impression is that very very slowly, countries are preparing to take a curve in drug policy. Where the UN bureacracy and some governments such as Japan, African and Arab countries remain firmly behind prohibition, other countries talk about the need to protect their population (including consumers) and about the need to apply innovative policies (where it is well understood they do not always fit inside the margins of the conventions). The tone of the US delegation was not as agressive as previous years.

The CND meetings are theatre shows. Governments send people here to support a false consensus and everybody knows it. Costa is a puppet whose job it is to defend a policy based on lies and manipulations. But as most people are happy to enjoy a nice week in Vienna, nobody really complains..

Medical Cannabis Clubs - Margins for a controlled market for medical cannabis

A discussion with Dr. Kurt Blaas (http://www.blowdoc.at), Joep Oomen (ENCOD), Dr. Gebhard Heinzle (Lawyer, http://www.legalisieren.at, followed by: “The War on Drugs”, Film (A, 99 Min.)

Press conference: ENCOD invites press representatives to a press conference with the members of its delegation.

In 2009, ENCOD organised a press conference, participated in a picket line demo in front of the UN building and questioned the UN Drug Czar, Antonio Maria Costa, asking him for evidence that prohibition is effective in reducing use.

In 2008, ENCOD organised a demonstration and a conference and posed one simple question to the UN drug czar Antonio Maria Costa:

Mr. Costa could not (and still cannot) answer this question.

In 2007, ENCOD wrote a letter to all participants at the CND to make "Vienna 2008" an opportunity to find a sensible solution to drug related problems.

In 2006, ENCOD made a call on all participants at the CND, to give up all excuses not to start discussing drug policy reform.

In 2004, ENCOD wrote a letter to all participants at the CND, on the need to install a serious dialogue on drug policies with civil society.

In 2003, ENCOD organised a conference and a demonstration to the UN building (2.500 participants)

In 2002, ENCOD wrote a letter to all participants at the CND on the fight against drug production in developing countries.

In 1998, ENCOD presented the Manifesto for Just and Effective Drug Policies which has since been signed by more than 200 organizations.