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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ROME 001369 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR INL, INL/AAE, INL/PC, IO/T 
CIA FOR CNC 
NDDS FOR RAABE 
DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO ONDCP - BAUM, SISSON, SIVILLI 
USEU FOR MCANULTY 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/20/2022 
TAGS: SNAR UNCDN EU AF IT
SUBJECT: CENTER-LEFT ELEMENTS SOFT-PEDALING ON DRUGS 
 
REF: A) VIENNA 167 B) ROME 1064 
 
Classified By: A/Polcouns Gabriel Escobar for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: During last year's electoral campaign, the 
center-left coalition consistently made clear that a top 
priority would be to abolish a relatively tough anti-drug law 
passed by the previous Berlusconi government.  However, it is 
not clear that coalition members who advocate overhauling the 
Berlusconi law will succeed in reducing or eliminating 
sanctions for possession of some drugs.  The domestic debate 
has spilled over into foreign policy, with some ministers 
calling for measures to soften the anti-narcotics campaign in 
Afghanistan by instituting an opium buyout program.  We will 
seek occasions to interact with key government officials to 
help shape the internal debate.  End summary. 
 
(U) Center-right Clamps Down; Center-Left Cries Foul 
-------------------------------------------- 
¶2. (SBU) The former center-right government of Silvio 
Berlusconi hailed the March 2006 Fini-Giovanardi law as a 
bold attempt to curb growing drug consumption in Italy.  The 
law eliminated the distinction between hard and soft drugs, 
increased penalties for those convicted of trafficking, and 
established administrative penalties for lesser offenses. 
All forms of possession and trafficking are now illegal, but 
punishment depends on the severity of the infraction.  During 
the 2006 election campaign, the center-left declared its 
intention to overturn the law.  Soon after the Prodi 
government was elected, Minister of Health Livia Turco 
reiterated that scrapping the law would be a top priority. 
The center-left argued that the Fini-Giovanardi law was based 
on weak scientific information and rushed into law in the 
final months of the Berlusconi government without sufficient 
discussion in Parliament. 
 
(U) Turco Tries to Change the Rules . . . 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
¶3.  (SBU)  In August 2006, Turco issued a decree doubling the 
minimum (to one gram) of Cannabis that individuals could 
possess without penalty.  Turco's stated goal was to use her 
administrative power to water down the Fini-Giovanardi law as 
much as possible until a substitute could be put before 
Parliament.  She later noted that her intention was also to 
reduce the growing number of young people who were arrested 
for possession of Cannabis, which she said spiked 64 percent 
from May to October 2006.  Turco underscored that the 
government's focus should be on traffickers and pushers, not 
users.  The latter, she offered, should be directed to social 
groups and rehabilitation centers which could help them break 
the habit.  In a separate but related move, Turco issued a 
decree in April 2007 that allows medicines derived from 
Cannabis to be used in drug therapies to relieve any kind of 
severe or chronic pain (see Ref B). 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Minister of Solidarity Ferrero--a member of the 
Communist Renewal Party (RC) who is designated as the GOI's 
overall drug coordinator--is Turco's main ally and possibly a 
greater instigator in trying to undermine the Fini Giovanardi 
law.  He has publicly campaigned for new guidelines that 
raise the minimum amount of narcotics allowed across the 
board before punitive measures take effect.  Ferrero 
maintains that new minimums should be set using scientific 
criteria and should give the judiciary authority to make 
case-by-case decisions on borderline instances. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) More broadly, Ferrero has asserted that the GOI 
approach to drug policy rests on four pillars:  fighting drug 
traffickers, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation, and 
harm reduction.  However, the stated goal of reducing the 
demand for drugs and enhancing the recovery of addicts lacks 
law enforcement provisions that would put downward pressure 
on domestic demand for drugs.  In early 2007, Ferrero 
announced that the draft revision to the Fini-Giovanardi law 
would decriminalize personal drug consumption; eliminate 
fixed maximums allowed for personal use; "rebalance" 
sanctions for illicit trafficking in line with European 
norms; and look for ways to rehabilitate addicted persons 
without resorting to detention.  Inherent in this new plan is 
 
ROME 00001369  002 OF 003 
 
 
extracting Cannabis from the list of "hard" drugs.  (Comment: 
Some members of parliament--and many Italians--do not believe 
Cannabis is a dangerous drug.  End comment.) 
 
(U) . . . But the Judiciary Puts on the Brakes. 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
¶6.  (SBU) In March 2007, a regional administrative court 
ruled that Turco did not have the authority to unilaterally 
change the Fini-Giovanardi law, and held that any changes had 
to be made in collaboration with other ministers and using 
scientific or technical information showing the potential 
health impact.  Non-profit and social organizations hailed 
the decision, noting that, given the rise in Cannabis use 
among young people and the transition from Cannabis to more 
dangerous drugs, Turco's move sent the wrong message to young 
people. 
 
(SBU) Weak Support for Policy Changes 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
¶7.  (SBU) The Turco-Ferrero partnership does not sit well 
with some in the center-left, a reflection of the often 
conflicting dynamics in the nine-party coalition that brings 
together moderate centrists and far left-wing elements.  At a 
public conference in March 2007, Interior Minister Amato 
weighed in on the topic, arguing that Italy desperately 
needed stronger anti-drug campaigns--he proposed testing 
university students for possession and consumption of 
controlled substances.  The drug problem in Italy, Amato 
underscored, cannot be written off as a personal matter when 
trafficking (to satisfy domestic demand) involves organized 
crime networks and recruitment of individuals to serve as 
couriers. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Guido Lenzi, Amato's diplomatic adviser, dismissed 
Ferrero's promises to overturn the Fini-Giovanardi law and 
told us that it was unlikely many would take his proposals 
seriously.  A political aide to Justice Minister Mastella 
told Poloff that Ferrero does not make drug policy alone and 
she did not think his pronouncements would have any practical 
effect in curbing existing drug enforcement efforts.  Enrico 
Valvo at the Foreign Ministry's Office of Counterterrorism 
and Counternarcotics told Poloff that Ferrero's statements do 
not necessarily indicate a policy shift, but rather an 
initial position for further internal government discussion. 
Valvo insisted that any proposal to change existing law would 
require consultation with other ministers (including, at a 
minimum, Amato and Mastella), approval by the full cabinet, 
and a vote in parliament. 
 
(SBU) The Afghanistan Angle 
--------------------------------------- 
¶9.  (SBU) Ferrero used a UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs 
(CND) meeting in March 2007 to express concern about poppy 
eradication efforts in Afghanistan and announce that the GOI 
supported a pilot program for opium buyout. (See Ref A) 
Minister of International Trade Bonino--a former European 
Commissioner known to follow Afghan issues closely--quickly 
backed the plan, saying that it was worthwhile to consider 
unconventional methods to help poor people in Afghanistan. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Valvo, who accompanied Ferrero to the CND meeting 
in Vienna, told Poloff that Ferrero's comments were linked to 
the broader domestic debate at that time involving Italy's 
foreign military missions.  Valvo said most center-left 
parties in Parliament--including Ferrero's RC--demanded 
language on opium reconversion in Afghanistan as one of their 
prices for approving Italy's foreign missions bill.  Foreign 
Minister D'Alema, who leads the Democrats of the Left Party 
(the center-left's largest) did not support this language, 
according to Valvo.  The Foreign Ministry relented only after 
the language was modified enough to give the GOI ample 
flexibility.  In practical terms, Valvo said, the GOI is 
unlikely to put any buyout programs in place, although he 
acknowledged that much depends on partisan forces in 
parliament. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Afghan Ambassador Maroofi June 13 told Poloff that 
neither Ferrero nor any other GOI official has approached him 
on the poppy cultivation issue.  He said he was surprised 
 
ROME 00001369  003 OF 003 
 
 
that members of the cabinet would promote this plan without 
first seeking official Afghan input.  The Ambassador said 
such a plan had virtually no support in Afghanistan--it is 
firmly opposed by the government, he noted--except for the 
few individuals who stand to benefit from poppy cultivation. 
The direct beneficiaries will not be the poppy farmers, 
Maroofi insisted.  In any case, Maroofi noted, the Afghan 
government could not support this project because it was 
explicitly forbidden in the Koran. 
 
(C) Comment 
------------------ 
¶12.  (C) Some center-left politicians have adopted a softer 
line on drugs because they believe more focus on 
rehabilitation and less law enforcement will be more 
successful in halting or reducing Italians' growing 
dependency on drugs.  Their strategy is in clear contrast to 
that of the Berlusconi government, and it accurately reflects 
the center-left's more liberal position on perceived personal 
liberties.  The focus on Cannabis as the "softer" drug to 
decriminalize is easy because Cannabis is often portrayed in 
Italy as a recreational drug that even some politicians and 
celebrities have acknowledged partaking.  Nevertheless, it is 
unclear that Ferrero or Turco will win enough support in the 
cabinet to significantly gut existing law.  We will look for 
ways to engage GOI officials on drug issues generally and 
highlight the warnings from both the UN and the INCB on the 
downsides of so-called "soft" drugs. 
 
¶13.  (SBU) On the Afghanistan opium buyout, it is clear that 
Ferrero and Bonino are speaking to the biases of their 
constituencies rather than to the facts of the situation in 
Afghanistan.  We were struck by the Afghan ambassador's 
surprise that GOI officials, purportedly seeking to improve 
the Afghans' situation, have not sought out official Afghan 
views on the matter.  The upcoming visit of A/S Richard 
Boucher and INL PDAS Tom Schweich for the July 2-3 
Afghanistan rule of law donor's conference may provide an 
opportunity for helpful bilateral discussions on this subject. 
Spogli