It is my privilege and honour to bid you all welcome to the 12th Mayors’ Conference. Oslo has been a member of European Cities Against Drugs since April 1994 when ECAD was founded, and I gladly take this opportunity of expressing my pride at being host for the conference which is an international meeting place for highly motivated people who are active in our common combat against the drugs industry, and the efforts to relief the victims’ individual pain.
This vile industry has spread throughout the world with horrendous impact on those who are disposed to seek artificial substitutes as relief for existential problems. And it seems to be a bitter fact that more and more young people are getting caught in the drug pushers’ net. The reasons for that are of course many but I am deeply convinced that it also has something to do with the general attitudes in society.

We are living in a time characterized by growing variety and disparity. During the last decade people seem to have got used to an increase of social and individual problems caused by drugs. And this development combined with an offensive alliance that persistently promotes ideological arguments for legalization of narcotics dims and blurs peoples’ sense of right and wrong, thus giving the organised criminals an advantageous lead on the public and the authorities. That is why it is so important to hold on to some basic values.

One of those values we find in ECAD’s uncompromising fight against drugs. Despite its relatively modest size Oslo, like any other European capital has a drug problem, and so does the rest of our beautiful country. This is somewhat paradoxical given our country’s wealth, its well organised welfare system and its very restrictive laws against drugs distribution and individual use. But of course, considering this country’s limited number of inhabitants our drugs problem is less extensive than many other countries’.
But nevertheless, I think drug problems should be considered along a qualitative, and not a quantitative scale. From that perspective our national drug problem is grave. Oslo has during the years gradually developed an open public drugs arena where a limited number of people are using drugs publicly. From my position as mayor of this magnificent city and as a human being, this is no longer acceptable.
Our chief commissioner will give you a broader and more extensive overview of this situation in his address to the conference tomorrow afternoon.

For these reasons, ladies and gentlemen, and for many others, time is overdue to intensify the European and national combat against drugs, which is the main theme of this conference. ECAD stands for organised firm attitudes against drugs in public and on the individual level. The organisation represents a powerful alternative to organised liberalism over drug distribution and use, thus counterbalancing the tendency of gradually more sloppy attitudes among ordinary people and some notorious academic high-flyers who by definition should know better.

This year our country celebrates the 100th anniversary of the peaceful dissolution of the union with Sweden. As a matter of fact the union was advantageous for our country in many ways and I think it is important to underline that Norway was never oppressed by Sweden as we normally conceive that word. We are indeed proud of our sovereignty, but hold no grudge at all against Sweden or the Swedes who we look upon as our brothers and sisters. Nevertheless it was felt as a national new-gained freedom when the union was dissolved. In our setting here at this conference, freedom could function as a metaphor for the goal and purpose of our common efforts to defeat the drugs industry and help the victims.

Freedom is both freedom from something- and freedom to something. In my mind, ladies and gentlemen, the combat against drugs takes place at two levels, the public and the individual.
The two levels involve different means and methods, but both imply a fight for freedom from drugs and freedom to alternatives to them.
On the public level we want freedom from organised crime, from lethal traps for our children and adolescents, from harsh, brutal and clandestine distributing chains of all kinds – and freedom to seek decency, moral consensus and ethical standards, freedom to perfect our democracy through active participation and freedom to look the future in the eyes without being pushed back by destructive forces.
On the individual level we want freedom from ruined physical and mental health, sudden death, social and individual misfortune and deprivation, freedom from sorrow over lost children and relatives – and freedom to reach for happiness and meaning unchained from addiction and criminal rulers. Individual freedom cannot be gained behind a grid of addiction and dependence. Individual freedom is personal choice and responsibility for the consequences of ones actions.

In other words, freedom means to be untied from something you fear and detest. Only then can you be free to seek for what is good for you. In my mind this is what the combat against drugs is all about and it is my hope that this important conference will confirm this thesis.

I want you to know that this is not only our city’s policy – it is also very much my personal feeling and the reason I am so engaged in ECAD’s goals. We are approximately 200 delegates gathered here today from 20 different countries, from Nepal to Iceland, from Russia to Italy – that demonstrates the engagement and the strength of ECAD’s organisation. I am happy to see you all! I wish the best for this conference, and am very much looking forward to seeing you in the City Hall this evening.
Tomorrow evening you will be taken on a trip on the fjord, and those of you who have the opportunity to participate on Saturday’s excursions, will see more of this beautiful city and its close surroundings. I wish you all an enjoyable stay in Oslo.

Good luck!

 
[< Back]