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VIENNA / DRUGS
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STORY: VIENNA / DRUGS
TRT: 2.33
SOURCE: UNODC
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: SPANISH / ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 11 MARCH 2009, VIENNA, AUSTRIA / FILE
11 MARCH 2009, VIENNA, AUSTRIA
1. Wide shot, exterior of the Vienna International Centre
2. Tracking shot, Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) with Queen Silvia of Sweden
3. Med shot, flags
4. Tracking shot, Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of UNODC with Queen Silvia of Sweden and President Evo Morales of Bolivia
5. Wide shot, plenary room
6. Med shot, podium, from left to right: Queen Silvia of Sweden (seated), (standing, shaking hands) Mr. Costa shaking hands with the Chair, Deputy Prime Minister of Namibia Libertina Amathila
7. Cutaway, seated delegates at plenary
8. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Evo Morales, President of Bolivia:
“The consumption of this leaf of coca, dates from three thousand years before Christ and two thousand years after Christ, and because it is possible, we can draw the conclusion that in 25 years of the consumption of the coca leaf, we know well that this leaf of coca is not harmful to human health. This is what chewing [coca] is.”
9. Wide shot, audience applauding
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Queen Silvia of Sweden:
“This [education and prevention] may be the best, and most cost-effective long-term investment, if we are to manage and to reduce the incidence of drug misuse. Together, working as a team, with shared objectives provide safer, healthier, and fulfilling lives free from the harms that drugs can cause, we can make a difference.”
11. Cutaway, press
12. Wide shot, press stakeout area lined up: first from left Czech Minister of Interior
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Ivan Langer, Interior Minister of the Czech Republic:
“I want to assure everybody that harm reduction doesn’t mean any secret or open legalization of illegal drugs. It’s a part of rational anti-drug policy.”
FILE – UNODC – DATE UNKNOWN - COLOMBIA
14. Various shots, farmers with coca plant
15. Various shots, Colombian airforce spraying coca crops with herbicide
16. Various shots, Colombian soldiers destroying coca crops
FILE – UNODC – DATE UNKNOWN, NETHERLANDS
17. Various shots, cannabis use
FILE – FILE – UNODC, DATE UNKNOWN
18. Various shots, intravenous drug users
The United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) opened a two-day session in Vienna today (11 March) to review the effectiveness of drug control over the last decade.
Bolivian President Evo Morales of Bolivia attended the meeting with the stated aim of correcting the “historical mistakes” of provisions in a 1961 convention to phase out traditional consumption of coca over a 25-year period.
Brandishing a leaf of the coca plant, Morales said people had been consuming coca in his home region for the past 5,000 years. To demonstrate that its effects are “not harmful to human health”, he proceeded to chew the coca leaf.
Morales maintained that since coca is not a narcotic it cannot be banned, and said his country believed in “rationalizing” or limiting production, but not aiming for zero production of coca because it can also be used to make cocaine.
Queen Silvia of Sweden, who offered her comments as President of the Mentor Foundation, called for a team effort among governments and civil society to tackle the “harms that drugs can cause” through prevention and education, which she said “may be the best, and most cost-effective long-term investment”.
Czech interior minister, Ivan Langer briefed reporters on the European Union’s position in favor of “harm reduction” measures, such as needle and syringe exchanges for drug users, substitution treatment for opiate addicts, street work with drug users and other interventions. He stressed that harm reduction “doesn’t mean any secret or open legalization of illegal drugs. It’s a part of rational anti-drug policy”. The Czech Republic currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union.
The CND high-level meeting will review what has been achieved since the Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on drugs in 1998, and discuss what further steps are needed to reduce the threat posed by drugs to health and security.
Over 1400 participants from 130 countries, NGOs and international organizations are taking part. A Political Declaration and Plan of Action will be adopted on 12 March.
