EUROPE/ITALY - 5TH GLOBAL CONFERENCE ON DRUG PREVENTION

Rome (Fides Service) – The 5th Global Drug Prevention Conference opens today 22 September in Pomezia, near Rome. Among the special guests Archbishop Javier Lozano Barragan President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral of Health Care Workers who will open the Conference. Participants will live five intense days of work to identify the cultural, ethical and scientific dimensions of drug prevention. The initiative, promoted by the Global Network for Drug Prevention formed after the third world conference held in Palermo in 2000, aims to be a celebration of life, an act of love for new generations and their families, an act of trust in the possibility of rehabilitation and healing of scars which are often the reason why young people turn to drugs as a refuge, a solution.
One of the aims of the Conference is to increase awareness of the destructive power of the production, distribution and use of illegal drugs and, at the same time, prospects for eliminating this evil; take stock of the implementation of commitments made during previous Conference; identify moral and spiritual principles which should be the basis of effective prevention programmes, social policies and legislation to eliminate drug abuse; discuss obstacles and solutions for an effective reduction of the demand for drugs, including legalisation and social measures to render possible the use of illegal drugs. Convince the nations of the world of the importance of supporting and implementing the UN Convention on Illegal Drugs and also to expand and strengthen the Global Network for Drug prevention.
Archbishop Lozano Barragan will speak on “Data from the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Criminal Action and the Position of the Holy See”. John Walters, director of the US National Drug Control Office will draw the conclusions of this first day of the Conference. AP (Fides Service 22/9/2003 EM lines 32 Words: 338)