The Road to Vienna - an alternative

We can allways imagine that the ants without any plant material are the concerned citizens that are into the drug law reform for social and political reasons, and because prohibition results in enriching criminal syndicates, worsening social destitution, incarceration of millions of people and so on. They and their co-citizens are the people who will in the end make the decisions,whether they belong to the "decisionmakers" or are just ordinary people casting their votes for this or that political party. They will only come along because they believe in our arguments that prohibition increase problems with drugs, not decrease them.

I have some remarks to the "Cannabis Social Club"-idea. First, at this years General Assembly, I got the impression that this was an interesting experiment the cannabis organizations had planned in countries where use and possesion is tolerated but sale is not. Then it is presented as encod’s policy, and finally Farid of course wants to go globally. (Now I see that Joep is clearing the way for coca- and opium- social clubs too - this does not seem to have any end. Decisionmaking in encod is still a mystery to me)

Am I the only one in encod who just want legal access to cannabis for any adult citizen? Am I the only one who outrightly dislike the necessity to be registered into some kind of user fraternity to have a joint? It’s too much registering and surveillance and shit around as it is! For many years now we have had the Dutch coffee-shops. That’s an experiment to consider, but it seems to be totally forgotten. (Even if a few of them have actually become encod members lately) In Netherland they have legal access (formally "tolerated", but that does not matter here). They have shown us half of solution, the legal access part. And it functions well enough. The other half, which should be much more important to the general public, is that prohibition still upholds criminal production and criminal import and much of the byproducts we know only too well. I want legal production and legal import (I’m NOT an EU cannabis industry protectionist!

You, Joep, who are such a specialist on development in 3W countries, have you totally forgotten that 800.000 Moroccan peasants are depending on hashish production for their main income? Is there only place for Bolivian coca leaf peasants in your heart?) Are we really going to the UN with the message that we want the Singles convention reformed a little so we can find place for a nifty plan so adult citizens can band together in self supported clubs to enjoy their coca leafs, their opium and their joints ( - nothing not-plant-related, God forbid)? But please, use your military-police apparatus to stop illegal imports and use your euro-police forces to keep prices of drugs high enough for the criminal syndicates that will still sell drugs to kids and the riff-raff that are deemed to unruly to fit into our cosy plan? I want the end of prohibition! I want "legalization" of it all and a reasonable regulation. What would encod have proposed in the fight against alcohol prohibition in olden days? Closed member-based semi-legal and authority-controlled speakeasies with their own group-operated stills??

I still think the CSCs is an interesting experiment. I have nothing against experiments, and the legalize cannabis organizations, of which we have so many, could work for this as a way for their members to survive until something serious is done with prohibition. But if encod shall have any meaningful future, it must be in presenting a leadership in the fight against prohibition as such. Now we are pouring our strength into some small local skirmishes. That’s a sure way to lose a war.

What we really need is a concerted effort in all European countries to lobby against the governments and the researchers and politicians and everyone that have any influence on national drug policies. Not only lobby, but to hang on to them all the way to Vienna and back. In the UN we will not encounter freewheeling characters that will swing to street demos. They are government representatives, and they will do as they are told. And we will have to go back to the citizens in each country and tell them that the politicians let you down again: they obviously want the black market, they want unregulated sale of drugs, they want drug users incarcerated, they want them ruined, they want drug use to result in social destitution for as many as possible! Actually they seem to want as much destructive drug use as possible because that is in fact the result of their policies and that has been known for many years. All this must be documented, we have all the arguments on our side and we can use them. This is a battle worth fighting in. It will NOT end prohibition this time. But at least we will not meet the following argument next time we have to come forward - after having (you may think so!) our social club idea tolerated as an "experiment" within the law): you got what you wanted, so shut up!

Stein Hoftvedt