Drug Peace March in Vienna

[sopor]

PRESS RELEASE

( for other language versions see http://www.encod.org/info/7-8-9-MARCH-2008...EACE-MARCH.html )

It is time to end the "war on drugs" and start new approaches in drug policy. Current prohibition of drugs creates more problems than it solves. This is a reality that most governments are not willing to face.
At the occasion of the meeting of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, with the purpose of evaluating the results of a ten year strategy that was decided upon in New York in 1998, ENCOD (European Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies) has organised a counterevent from 7 to 9 March 2008.

You can find a detailed programme here:
http://www.encod.org/info/VIENNA-2008-TEN-YEARS-AFTER.html

According to ENCOD, the time is ripe for non-repressive strategies in drug policy. Strategies that do not damage the health of consumers and do respect the rights of citizens. One of the demands is to respect the right of all adult citizens in the world to use natural plants for own consumption. That would include the creation of legal outlets for the production and use of hemp, opium and cocaplants.
Goal of the UN strategy has been to eliminate the international drugs trade before 2008, through erradication of drug production and dramatic reduction of the demand of drugs. The results of this 10 year strategy will now be evaluated in the meeting of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna from 10 to 14 March.
Nobody denies the fact that since 1998, both the supply and the demand for illegal drugs have increased. According to UN estimations, the worldwide market for illegal drugs 400 to 500 billions are earned each year with the sale of illegal drugs. As production costs represent less than 1 % of the street price, the profit margins of the drugs industry are enormous. The income of criminal organisations that are active in the drug trade exceed the BNP of many nations.
Also the costs of drug prohibition are enormous. Independent experts estimate the yearly expenses that are made only by police and justice to maintain drug prohibition to be more than 40 billion euro. Nevertheless there is no evidence that these operations have any measurable effect on drug related criminality.
On the other hand the regulation of drugs production and trade within a legal framework will take the control on the drugs market out of the hands of the criminal organisations.
In order to raise awareness on these issues, ENCOD has taken the initiative of the counterevent, which is expected to attract a great number of international participants.

Friday 7 March, at 17.00, a Drug Peace March will take off from Praterstern to the Vienna International Centre. From there, the participants will bring their demands to the embassies of among others USA, China and Afghanistan.
At 21:00 am afterparty will take place in the ARENA, with several international bands and DJ's.
On Saturday and Sunday, a conference with (inter)national drug policy experts will take place in the "altes AKH" (Audience Room C1). There will be sessions on following themes, among others:
Drug prohibition a convenient lie - the origin of drug prohibition as a tool of political power - the effects of drugs on the human brain - new developments in the medicinal applications of cannabis, the use of ibogaine in the treatment of drug addiction etc.
ENCOD is an independent NGO, that was founded in order to bring more transparency and democratic control in the design and implementation of drug control policies.

For more information see http://www.encod.org/info/ENCOD-BULLETIN-38.html

or contact the following people:
Joep Oomen
Telephone in Austria: +43 (0) 699 816 12676
Telephone in Belgium: +32 (0) 495 122 644
E-mail: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]

Otmar Pusch
Telephone in Austria: +43 (0) 681 1036 0480
E-mail: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]

Andreas Holy
Telephone in Austria: +43 (0) 699 1622 8661
E-mail: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]

 

[ararat]

too bad I can't come, I'd love to go there :'(

their decision from 1998 is quite amusing..

 

[st.bot.32]

I wish events like this would be spammed around the world. I wish thousands upon thousands would show up. This is actually kind of importaint.

Too bad I'm way over here..

 

[BrainEater]

you can start it over there too ...
just find enough willing fellas to support you... i guess there might be lots of ppl

 

[Dantediv86]

if it turns out to be like the MJ march over here you guys are screwed -_-'

 

[Mycophile]

I hope a lot of people will show up. But I have my doubts. They should have done a lot more promotion...

 

[BrainEater]

if it turns out to be like the MJ march over here you guys are screwed -_-'

tell us more!!

 

[sopor]

Unfortunately I also won't be able to be there.

And dante, i know what you mean. MJ marches are all about smoking in public, not about educating people about our beloved herb. And people don't take them (us) serious.

Maybe the organisators did not promote the event because they were afraid of a million potheads (drugsters) coming and ruining everything... It seems to me like this is on a higher level than similar protests.

 

[st.bot.32]

Yeah but if a million pot heads actually showed up it would demonstrate that the government is totally out of touch with the people, the government is spreading b.s. propaganda (pot smokers are normal people from all demographs) and is trying to turn millions of people into criminals.

Get elitist about these events and they will fail. Imagine if the 10% or so of the population who use cannabis actually showed up at one of those events. Now that would make an impact.

In any case here in Canada we have an estimated 2 million smokers, much more if you believe the 17% statistic.. but 500 people show up on MJ march day.

 

[Mycophile]

Maybe most cannabis users just gave up...

What argument can they bring? Every possible argument is already brought up a million times, but nobody in charge listens...

A few weeks ago I spoke to somebody who was very active in the sixties. I asked her what she thought about the current situation regarding cannabis etc...
Her answer: "Well, I have no interest in politics anymore. Everything we fought for in the sixties is still the same..." Well, that gave me a slight depression. Am I going to tell the same in 30 years to somebody else?

 

[Dantediv86]

probably
all has been done and fought for
why should we go on?


JEEESUS FRIGGEN KREIST!! we were 20 over here at the last MJ march last year
and here in the zone AT LEAST 500 people smoke or use it on a weekly or monthly basis
and if people actually went down and did a PROPER protest, things would change
how do you think that wemen got to vote?
or legalized abortion?
or the workers got their rights?

it was done long ago, but it doesn't mean that we can't do it better for our freedom!

 

[st.bot.32]

if people actually went down and did a PROPER protest, things would change

Absolutely. The scale of what happened in the 60's hasn't really occurred in a long time. Add the knowledge that we have about drugs as compared to the absolute naivity the hippie generation had while poking into unknown territory, and our generation is much better equipped.

If even 50% of cannabis users in my country stood up and protested regularly I bet we would see things change..

Not caring about politics=burying your head in the sand and hoping you make it, until one day you fall victim to some propaganda due to your lack of being informed in the world around you

 

[Guest]

dantediv86, woman could abort their babies in your country long ago. in portugal it was only last year. so you can start to imagine how our mj protests look like.
i speak for myself: i won't enter any MJ protest because it does nothing. don't they know that plenty of people smoke pot ? there are statistics of it, they don't get the numbers out of demonstrations! they know better than we do the true numbers of drug abuse. all that we can do is suppose what they know.
that does not mean that one should turn a blind eye on politics and "factology"

 

[Mycophile]

We have to force politicians to take a drug test... Right now...

If society sees that half of the parliament has coke in their urine, people will maybe finally see the hypocrisy in the war on drugs.

Maybe marijuana marches should not focus on stoners to take part in it, they should focus on people who have nothing with cannabis at all. That's still the majority and they have to be convinced before any change can be made...

Oooh big shiva. It's stormin' in my head... What about the following (never going to happen) situation:
All leaders of the world will be in Vienna 10 march. What if someone could get to the microphone with the cameras rolling and says: "You are all against drugs, you all lock people up who use drugs. Let's see if you guys really think that drugs are bad... Everybody has to take a drug test right now!"

How many leaders will refuse? Dammit, you can count on some positive tests I say. And that WILL make a statement...

Maybe I should not have smoked my evening-joint so early...

Edit: Somehow the face of Bush shows up in my head immediately. How come..?

 

[st.bot.32]

Hey Daytripper, in your situation that's understandable...

However it is far easier to declare war on drug "abusers" who are isolated, just divide and conquor.

When thousands and thousands of people show up in the flesh, they are no longer just "statistics" but a organized, united force to be reckoned with.

 

[Guest]

st.bot.32, you may have a point there. though here, there has been DOZENS of demonstrations with thousands upon thousands of demonstrators (not sure this word even exists), and the goverment ignores them and continue to do their works as nothing happened. in the best of chances, we can halt just a little bit their decisions, but it's always their options that get carried on shoulders, not ours.
i wish all the best to this demonstration, and if it succeeds, i will be the first one to admit i am wrong, and will post a youtube video of me smoking a joint and shaking hands with a police officer :wink:

 

[ararat]

I think the day cannabis becomes legal I'll be running around naked smoking two joints at the same time

I'm really pissed that I can't go to that demonstration. but they picked a good date I suppose, on the same weekend there is a university-information fair

 

[st.bot.32]

So I wonder what happened.. inside the control-freak environment of the UN, and outside at the protest..

 

[ararat]

according to a friend nothing special. 10000 people too few. my friend said that he thinks that there were about 200-300 people, 5 policemen and 3 guys from our national tv.

I don't know about the uno-guys though.

 

[Mycophile]

Respect for Encod for organizing it in the first place.

But their marketing machine sucked big time.

Anyone knew about it at all? Well, I did, but I had the feeling the last few months I was the only one. And I'm surrounded by some hardcore pro-legalisation people...