THE VATICAN has been accused of putting the lives of thousands at risk by attempting to influence UN drugs policy on the eve of a major international declaration.
The Vatican’s objection to “harm reduction” strategies, such as needle exchange schemes, has ignited a fierce debate between the US and the EU over how the drug problem should be tackled.
A new UN declaration of intent is due to be signed in Vienna on March 11th. However, there are major disagreements over whether a commitment to “harm reduction” should be included in the document.
Now the Vatican has issued a statement that claims that using drugs is “anti-life” and that “so-called harm reduction leads to liberalisation of the use of drugs”.
The last-minute intervention appears to have led to Italy withdrawing from the EU consensus on the issue and thrown talks over the declaration into confusion.
In 1998, the declaration of intent was “a drug-free world - we can do it”, which critics claimed was unrealistic and did not sufficiently address the complex nature of drug treatment.
Most EU countries, Brazil and other Latin American countries, Australia and New Zealand favour a harm reduction clause. Opposed are the US, Russia and Japan.
The US position has been that such inclusion sends the wrong message, although there have been indications a more liberal policy might be adopted under Barack Obama. – ( Guardianservice)