NCJ Number
172126
Journal
European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Volume: 5 Issue: 2 Dated: (1997) Pages: 123-133
Date Published
1997
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This article examines the management of drug addiction in Europe.
Abstract
The article focuses on the position of drug addiction under Article K of the Maastricht Treaty. It presents two theses: (1) The Maastricht Treaty makes drug addiction a quasi-constitutional concept; and (2) The European Union's action plan regarding the fight against drugs, interpreting Article K.1.4, strengthens the standardization of the representation of the drug addict as an agent of European disorder. The article also summarizes the issues involved in the European use of drugs. In view of its inefficiency in reducing drug use, the couching of drug addiction within European policies, intended to lead the fight against drugs, is a factor in the negative construction of the European identity. The major socializing institutions (family, school, army, firm, church) appear to no longer be able to reproduce the social bond. Drugs are a political cement; their most fearful effect is consensus. They permit the horizontal collaboration of professionals (related to sectors of intervention with incompatible codes of ethics) and the vertical harmonization of the levels of power. They insure the identity and unity of those fighting them. Drugs are such a strong political cement that it appears that Europe has taken to them and cannot do without them. Notes