Ladies and gentlemen,
According to this year's review of the economic consequences of the illicit drug cultivation and trade, made by the International Narcotics Control Board, the main parts of the profit made from illicit drug trafficking, occurs in the countries where the drugs are consumed and not where they are grown.
During many years, strong pressure has been made on developing countries, to reduce the production of illicit drugs, as a way of countering the international drug problem. We must ask ourselves how the opinions in some consumer countries, in favour of legalization - or of liberalisation of drug control - rhymes with this demand of a reduced production. This type of tolerance is a violation of the UN Conventions and shows a lack of respect for the efforts made in developing countries to reduce production.
A tolerant policy concerning the consumption of drugs, including cannabis, is not only a threat to public health, but also to international solidarity and the idea of shared responsibility.
The truly global dimension of the present drug situations calls for further action of the international community. We should find more effective ways of reducing the production and consumption of illicit drugs. We should make strong efforts to develop strategies of alternative production. And we should, as responsible members of wealthy nations, focus even more on the reduction of poverty. If we mutually respect each other and our respective efforts, we will be more successful in our common fight against drugs. And I mean all drugs, including cannabis.
So far, I have not heard of any good arguments for a more liberal attitude towards cannabis. According to statistics from the UNODC (United Nations Office Drugs and Crime) as many as 147 million people use cannabis on a yearly basis. Sadly enough, its use is on the rise, especially among teenagers.
Two months ago, the most prominent researchers of cannabis were gathered for a conference here in Stockholm. They concluded that cannabis is a much more harmful drug than it has been claimed to be. Evidence shows that it has lasting effects on the brain and that it can contribute to depression and schizophrenia.
The increasing use of cannabis among young people is not solved by a loosening of existing regulations. To me, it seems obvious, that you don't reduce the use of a drug by making it more available. To my surprise, there are some opinions that claim that the international drug control treaties should be relaxed. The international conventions are based on international consensus. They are in fact excellent and flexible instruments that can help us to limit the production and the use of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances to medical and scientific purposes.
We have no right to experiment with the health of future generations. We should behave as if we were parents - o f all children and teenagers, not only our own. Therefore, the burden of proof that some drugs should be harmless does not lie on those of us who are in favour of the conventions. Such evidence should be presented by those who are in favour of a relaxation of the drug control regime.
Statistics show that drug abuse is on the rise among young people. In some environments where young people meet, there is a glorification of the use of drugs, especially synthetic drugs and cannabis. We must all join in efforts to prevent future generations, boys and girls, to fall for the pressure of those who mean that it is cool to try drugs.
These efforts start at home. It is us, as parents, who have the most important responsibility to educate and inform our children about drugs. The efforts should be continued in school - and in a broad approach -followed up in environments where adolescents spend their free time. Only with such a broad approach, we can help our most loved ones to build up the barrier that they will have to cross before they start experimenting with drugs.
The fight against drugs should be characterized by humanity and dignity. That goes for all the three pillars of drug policy - prevention, law enforcement and treatment.
Of course treatment and law enforcement are perfect measures to prevent drug abuse. But it is also the other way around. If we prevent drug abuse, less effort need to be focused on supply reduction and fewer people will be in need of treatment. Drug addicts recruit new ones. Drug addicts often finance their own abuse by selling drugs to others. Therefore we need an integrated approach in the fight against drugs.
The world drug problem needs to be addressed in the fight against all illicit drugs: heroin, amphetamine, cocaine, crack, synthetic drugs - and - cannabis. We all have a personal and collective responsibility to prevent young people from starting to use drugs.
A month ago the Commission on Narcotic Drugs had its ministerial meeting in Vienna. A big delegation of NGOs took part in the event, They handed over 1,3 million signatures of people and organizations who wanted to express their support for the international drug control treaties and for the Convention on the Rights of the Child. One member of the group was a fifteen-year-old girl from Sweden, Ellinor Frisk. She had the courage to hold a speech in front of ministers and delegates from 148 countries.
She told very openly that she had started using drugs when she was thirteen years old. She started with cannabis. After a while she added ecstasy and rohypnol. She ran away from home, slept outdoors with other drug addicts and stopped going to school. I am sure you can imagine all the horrifying things that happened to this child during two years in the street. Now she has been saved by a treatment centre for youngsters in Gotland.
She said very categorically that cannabis was definitely the big 'gate-way' to drug addiction, and she urged the ministers and delegates to do all they could to live up to the UN conventions that they had signed.
We adults, politicians and parents should show the same courage as did Ellinor, and join efforts to do what she urged us to do.

Thank you.

 
 
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