The European Commission adopted a Green Paper on 26 June in which it proposes to institutionalise and structure in a permanent manner the dialogue between the Union and “the whole huge range of organizations that operate in the field of drugs”. According to European Commissioner for Justice Franco Frattini, the document – part of the Commission’s Anti-Drug Strategy 2005-2012 and Action Plan 2005-2008 – is particularly important given the need “to establish a contact with citizens to reach those millions of Europeans – especially youth – who take drugs as if it were a normal recreational activity, and to better understand this phenomenon and convince all those who make use of drugs in the European Union that they causing harm not only to themselves but also to others”. The consultation already underway with the European organizations aimed at the exchange of experiences and the definition of ways of structuring the dialogue represents the priority of Brussels in its fight against drugs. In this regard, during the presentation of the Green Paper at a press conference, the Commissioner for Health Marcos Kyprianou said that “only by ensuring the participation of NGOs will we be able to improve the approach and pertinence of our policy”.
