Drug misuse is neither a circumstantial nor transient issue. It is in the context of the evolution of our societies that its roots are to be found. Given the ever-changing nature of substances and the ways in which they are consumed, and that drug use is increasingly affecting all social strata, and the fact that social crisis magnifies distress, we have to reinvent and develop ways of facing the problem. We can no longer be satisfied with simplistic and redundant policies.

Europe must actively commit itself to this way of thinking.

A European drugs policy has to be global and must integral to wide-ranging social policy. It
cannot pursue a path of drug suppression nor carry on making a priority of legal and police action.
What is there to say about the 26 countries which still apply the death penalty for drug
offences? European professionels support Amnesty International and strenuously denounce this practice.

We have to stop confusing the issues of drug control and the fight against drug trafficking with that of the repression of drug users.

Refusing to accept the self-destruction and dependance caused by harmful drug-use is above all the promoting positive humain values such as solidarity and health, and not that of retrenching ourselves in legal interdictions.

Consequently we want to construct a drugs policy in Europe which is founded on :
- European citizenship based on both individuel and collective responsibility and freedom,
- risk-minimisation which demands as a priority preventive health education and the recognition of drug users as partners in public health,
- a response based on quality health-care to Pharmaco-dependencies, which is accessible, varied, and open to innovation.

The objectives of both public policy and non-statutory organisations in Europe must be
redefined and combined with these concepts in mind, resulting from committed exchange and dialogue. The credibility of democratic societies and welfare structures depends on this.

• Our approach towards drug users must no longer focus upon the product but rather upon people and their relationship to society, and must lake advantage of social links in the communities of which they are a part.
• In today's society the consequences of European drugs policy are lived out in hotbeds of wretchedness, insecurity; and misery that is in the suburbs, on the streets, and in prisons.
• The practice of incarcerating drug users as a result of their drug use must be permanently stopped. Multiple alternatives need to be brought into play, in order to avoid aggravating the social exclusion of drug users, and in order to define mutual objectives in terms of preventive therapeutic and public security programmes.
• Particular attention must be paid to immigrant populations and ethnic minorities in order to adapt local responses and care services to their needs. Racism is the most dangerous form of social exclusion and must be opposed absolutely.
  

A great many drug users belong to those populations facing the problem of survival: therefore improvements in the state of health and daily living conditions of drug users must be made a priority.

This necessitates a resolute public health policy in order to reduce risks and harm linked to drug misuse, in particular with regards to AIDS, but also to the viral hepatitis which have become throughout Europe one of the most serious health threats.
This necessitates also a policy within all institutions of cooperation with marginalised groups and individuals in order that they become real partners in prevention work and, quite simply, real citizens.

The care of drug users should not prevent them from ultimately acheiving autonomy and freedom. Such a perspective necessarily implies the broadening of options and a range of services. Abstinence must not be made a condition of availability of welfare assistance or health care.

Therapeutic intervention, throughcare of drug users and drugs prevention work should result from clinical and ethical consideration, and therefore from the input of trained professionels from a broad spectrum of fields. Each intervention should respect the specific profile of the individual and his/her own choice.

It is no longer sufficient to withdraw behind our national borders or to dump our own responsibility onto our neighbours. It is time for us to work together.

Europe needs, with regards to drug misuse, a coherent policy which is open to the ideas and practices of differing cultures, models of work, systems and experiences, a policy which is totally oriented towards dialogue and exchange.
None of this will be possible without close collaboration between the European statutory and non-statutory organisations working within an exchange network.

The European Commission, through the different directorates concerned, and the European partnership monitoring body should also develop, with fieldworkers, epidemiological monitoring, support the development of mutually compatible evalutional systems, and promote research and prevention.

We commit ourselves to defending these objectives and to developing this European policy in collaboration with the community organisations and the member States of Europe.