VIENNA, 11.03.2014 – Encod, the European coalition for just and effective drug policies, is calling on the United Nations to end the drug war, at the 57th session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna this week. An alternative media center will be set up to show the world how the UN CND responds to the breakthroughs in drug policy in Uruguay and some parts of Europe and the US.

A delegation of five Encod members will join the debate inside the UN: Urki Goñi, chairman of Cannabis Social Club Urjogaberdea in the Basque Country, Spain, Doug Fine, author of ’Hemp Bound’ and ’Too High To Fail: Cannabis & the New Green Economic Revolution’, Dionisio Nuñez, Bolivian ex-minister of coca affairs, Janko Belin, Encod chairman and Joep Oomen, Encod coordinator. On Friday March 14 one of them will deliver a speech to the plenary meeting. One quote from this speech:

‘Please, members of the Commission, understand that we must change strategies now. The Convention on Narcotic Drugs must be reformed, to end the deplorable situation that prohibition has itself created. Legal regulation is the only way to increase public safety and reduce crime surrounding all drugs.’

Encod prepares various actions in Vienna. Delegates will be welcomed to the UN centre by ‘Kaffeeschnüffler’ (’Coffee Sniffers’), handing out flyers on coffee prohibition in the past and modern day prohibition of plants like cannabis and coca. Encod members will plant cannabis clones at the UN Center, to celebrate the legalization of cannabis in Uruguay, Colorado and Washington State.

But the main purpose of Encods presence is to inform the world about what is going on inside. A team of journalists will carry out interviews with delegates and produce news reports from the CND meeting. Every night on March 13, 14 and 15, the Encod media center will report via encod.org.

Journalists are welcome at the Encod media center to conduct interviews with experts and activists from four continents and learn more about recent developments in international drug policy.

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