EU AGRRES DRUGS LAW, DUTCH "COFEE" SHOPS SURVIVE

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EU Agrees Drugs Law, Dutch 'Coffee' Shops Survive

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union justice ministers agreed Thursday to tougher anti-drug laws, but the Netherlands said its controversial "coffee" shops -- where cannabis is openly sold and smoked -- would survive.

After more than two years of negotiations and a long-running dispute between the Netherlands and Sweden and France, the EU ministers provisionally backed harmonizing national laws to make the bloc more efficient in the fight against illegal drugs.

The laws cover all types of drug-dealing, ranging from local networks to large-scale international operations.

However, Dutch Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner said his country's policy of allowing the use and sale of cannabis in the strictly controlled coffee shops would remain in place.

Under the agreed rules, offering, selling or producing drugs should be sanctioned with maximum jail terms of at least one to three years. In cases involving large-scale international drug trafficking sanctions should be at least five to 10 years.

The agreement was held up because Paris and Stockholm wanted tough jail terms for minor offences, a move opposed by Amsterdam because of its policy of tolerating the use and sale of so-called "soft drugs" such as cannabis.

Sweden also demanded the Netherlands close the coffee shops, where people for over 30 years have been able to buy and smoke cannabis without fearing repercussions from the police.

A compromise was reached after the Netherlands agreed to increase its sanctions for the possession of small quantities to a year from one month. Member states also agreed on a declaration stressing the importance of fighting drug tourism.

Donner said the deal would not affect Dutch rules on coffee shops.

"We have a situation where in certain conditions we will not prosecute and these conditions are kept very strictly," he told Reuters. "This decision does not cover that policy."

Donner said his government was considering rules under which coffee shops would only be allowed to sell soft drugs to Dutch residents to meet its obligation to dissuade tourists from going to Amsterdam for drugs.

Drug use inside the EU has been stabilizing after years of rising sharply, according to surveys by the EU's drugs monitoring agency in Lisbon.
According to a report from 2002, about 25-30 percent of adults in Denmark and Britain had used cannabis at least once. Amphetamines, cocaine and ecstasy have been used by one to five percent of people in the countries surveyed.

But in the 10 countries in central and Eastern Europe, joining the EU next May, drug use has been increasing sharply, as they move from being only transit areas for the shipment of drugs to the EU to becoming new lucrative markets.

The EU's executive Commission was asked to evaluate the laws three years after they come into force to ensure they are functioning as intended. The laws enter into force 18 months after being formally approved by ministers.