VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHWR #1327/01 3250647
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 200647Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY WARSAW
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 7355

UNCLAS WARSAW 001327 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/CE AND INL INCSR EDITOR JOHN LYLE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR PGOV PREL KCRM KJUS PL
SUBJECT: INCSR/POLAND - POST INPUT FOR 2008-2009 
INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL STRATEGY REPORT PART I, 
DRUGS AND CHEMICAL CONTROL 
 
REF: A. SECSTATE 100992 
     ¶B. SECSTATE 103813 
 
¶1. (SBU) Per ref A guidance, the following is Embassy 
Warsaw's submission for Part I of the 2008-2009 International 
Narcotics Strategy Report (INCSR).   Post's submission for 
Part II will follow septel. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Begin text: 
 
---------- 
¶I. Summary 
---------- 
 
Poland has traditionally been a transit country for drug 
trafficking.  As economic conditions improve, it is 
increasingly a more significant consumer of narcotics and 
producer of amphetamines.  The Government of Poland has a 
comprehensive demand reduction program and integration into 
the European Union's Schengen zone appears to have improved 
law enforcement capabilities against narcotics trafficking. 
 
---------------------- 
II.  Status of Country 
---------------------- 
 
In 2008, no significant changes were made in legislation. 
Compared to 2006, public expenditures on counternarcotics 
programs decreased in 2007.  Polish law enforcement agencies 
have been successful in breaking up organized crime 
syndicates involved in drug trafficking, yet trafficking 
activities continue to become more sophisticated and global 
in nature.  According to mid-year statistics provided by the 
Polish National Police (PNP), drug-related crimes have 
decreased since Poland's accession to the European Union's 
Schengen zone, which the PNP attribute to better information 
sharing via the EU's Schengen Information System.  Police 
officials acknowledge that their statistics probably do not 
reflect the full scale of narcotics transiting through 
Poland, which according to anecdotal information appears to 
be constant or even slightly on the rise.  Cooperation 
between USG officials and Polish law enforcement has been 
consistent and Poland's EU accession in 2004 accelerated GoP 
diligence on narcotics policy. 
 
------------------------------------------- 
III.  Country Actions Against Drugs in 2008 
------------------------------------------- 
 
Budget: 2007 expenditures on the National Program for 
Counteracting Drug Addiction totaled approximately 136.5 
million PLN (approx. 58 million USD).  This figure includes 
expenditures of the National Bureau for Drug Prevention, 
National AIDS Center, the Institute of Psychiatry and 
Neurology, Border Guards, the National Health Fund, 
provincial and municipal Governments, various training 
programs, and many other associated expenses.  Starting in 
2007, this figure excludes Police Headquarters and Central 
Management Board of Prison Service expenses, partially 
explaining the large decrease in expenditures from 2006 
expenditures of 321 million PLN (approx. 137 million USD). 
The National Health Fund's 2007 expenditures rose for the 
first time since 2004 by 2 Million PLN since 2006. 
 
Legislation:  There have been no major changes in 
legislation.  The Ministry of Health continues to seek to 
enact its National Plans on HIV and AIDS.  In 2008, the 
Justice Ministry established a special inter-ministerial 
group to revise the 2005 Law on Combating Drug Addiction and 
to encourage alternative forms of punishment to incarceration 
for drug addicts or possession offenders.  Although under 
current law, offenders can be required to attend specialized 
therapy and have their cases suspended or dropped if therapy 
succeeds, this option is rarely utilized.  Polish law permits 
the use of informants, telephone taps, and controlled 
deliveries to fight international crime, and a witness 
protection program is in place.  The maximum sentences for 
narcotics trafficking is 15 years, while the maximum sentence 
for trading in narcotics is 10 years.  All forms of 
possession are punishable. 
 
Agreements and Treaties: Poland has fulfilled requirements to 
harmonize its laws with the EU's Drug Policy and closely 
cooperates with the EU Monitoring Center on Drugs in Lisbon. 
In 2006, Poland ratified the UN Convention Against 
Corruption.  Poland is a party to the 1988 UN Drug 
Convention, the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic 
Substances, and the 1961 UN Single Convention, as amended by 
the 1972 Protocol. Poland is also a member of the Dublin 
 
 
Group.  An extradition treaty is in force between the U.S. 
and Poland. 
 
Jurisdiction: Administrative controls for programs like 
demand reduction and health care are largely decentralized, 
while law enforcement efforts remain centralized and 
hierarchical in nature.  Demand reduction programs are 
managed by the Health Ministry's National Bureau for Drug 
Addiction (NBDA) and provincial and municipal governments, 
and are intended to target local populations.  In contrast, 
regional law enforcement offices are required to coordinate 
most activities with Warsaw, which hinders the development of 
investigations and evidence collection.  Cooperation between 
regional law enforcement offices at times is also limited by 
the centralized structure.  This centralization of power in 
Warsaw appears to have strengthened since the November 2007 
election of Prime Minister Donald Tusk. 
 
Law Enforcement:  According to PNP mid-year statistics, since 
Poland,s December 2007 accession to the EU's Schengen zone, 
drug-related crimes committed in Poland have dropped by 22 
percent.  The PNP attribute this drop to better access to 
information from the Schengen Information System.  However, 
anecdotal information indicates that Poland's role as a 
transit nation has remained constant or might even be on the 
rise.  More comprehensive analysis of the impact of Schengen 
is not expected to be available until 2009.  Poland works 
with Interpol and EUROPOL to combat transnational narcotics 
trade.  Poland also cooperates with several neighboring 
countries on counternarcotics programs, including Project 
Eagle, a Polish-Swedish project against trafficking of 
amphetamines.  One sign of the success of local law 
enforcement in uncovering amphetamine labs is the relocation 
of labs from Warsaw to more remote, rural areas. 
 
Accomplishments:  From the beginning of 2008 through the end 
of October, the PNP closed down 10 amphetamine labs.  In 
2007, 27,936 suspects were identified as being involved in 
drug-related crimes, including 2,945 underage suspects, and 
there was evidence of over 63,007 drug-related crimes.  In 
September 2008, four tons of hashish worth 120 million PLN 
(approx. 51 Million USD) was seized in Germany, as the result 
of cooperation between the Polish Central Bureau of 
Investigation (CBS) and German and Dutch Police.  On the 
basis of recent seizures, the Polish CBS assesses that it has 
managed to stem the flow of narcotics from Pakistan to 
Western Europe.  In July, the Polish daily newspaper 
'Rzeczpospolita' reported that new routes for transporting 
cocaine and marijuana from Africa through Poland into Western 
Europe had emerged.  There were indications of the emergence 
of a shipment route for hashish from Morocco to Poland:  in 
April 2007 the Dutch Border Guard's seized a 44 million PLN 
(approx. 19 Million USD) drug shipment destined for Poland, 
and in May 2007 CBS arrested four people suspected of 
smuggling 1.5 tons of hashish from Morocco to Poland. 
 
Production and Transit:  Synthetic drugs, particularly 
amphetamines, are manufactured in Poland in small-scale 
kitchen operations.  The quality of amphetamines in Poland 
tends to be high as a result of double distillation, making 
Polish amphetamines competitive with cheaper, large-scale 
production amphetamines from Belgium or the Netherlands.  A 
significant percentage of Polish-produced amphetamines are 
exported to Scandinavia.  Precursors for amphetamines are not 
locally available and must be imported from other countries. 
The profitability of Poland's small amphetamine labs remains 
low. Shipments of heroin, hashish, cocaine, and ecstasy 
frequently transit the country, destined for Western Europe. 
Ecstasy prices in Poland in 2007 ranged from 15 to 40 PLN 
(approx. 6.50 to 17 USD) per pill and can be bought wholesale 
for 8 PLN (approx. 3.40 USD).  Opium originating from 
Afghanistan and Pakistan is also frequently shipped through 
Poland to Western Europe. 
 
Domestic Programs:  The NBDA has a comprehensive plan for 
reducing drug addiction and programs to discourage new users. 
 The GoP estimates there are between 100,000 and 120,000 drug 
users in Poland. In 2007, 85 drug-free residential facilities 
were in operation, and 13,000 addicts were successfully 
treated in 2006.  An additional 169 outpatient clinics were 
in operation.  In 2007, three new methadone programs were 
launched, bringing Poland to 15 active substitution treatment 
programs offered in 1230 centers around the country. 
Notwithstanding the extensive treatment programs, a gap 
exists between prison substitution programs and general 
programs which can lead to attrition.  In 2007, the National 
Bureau for Drug Prevention co-financed the implementation of 
prevention programs for at-risk children and adolescents, 
focusing on recreational drug use.  Programs like Monar, 
 
 
which targets discotheques and clubs, and Parasol, which 
focuses on commercial sex workers, are two of the seven 
demand reduction programs.  The National Bureau for Drug 
Prevention also launched a "Watch Your Drink" program to 
combat date rape drugs like GHB, ketamine, and rohypnol. 
 
---------------------- 
III.  Money Laundering 
---------------------- 
 
GoP efforts to combat money laundering will be addressed in 
septel response to ref B. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
IV. U.S. Policy Initiatives and Programs 
---------------------------------------- 
 
Bilateral Cooperation:  Bilateral cooperation between U.S. 
and Polish counternarcotics agencies remains strong, 
especially since the stationing of two DEA officers in Warsaw 
in 2005.  One of the challenges to cooperation on a policy 
level remains the high turnover of senior- and 
managerial-level counterparts.  Differences between the U.S. 
and Polish judicial systems continue to make cooperation and 
investigation of some leads problematic.  Nonetheless, DEA 
and LEGAT assess that there is good cooperation at the 
working level.  Cooperation has also been effective in cases 
where the USG has been able to supplement Polish resources 
and capabilities and to coordinate regional and 
intercontinental investigations.  In 2008, the PNP cooperated 
with DEA in several narcotics investigations targeting 
criminal organizations that import controlled substances into 
and through Poland. 
 
The Road Ahead:  Given Poland's predominant role as a transit 
country, post will continue to promote regional cooperation 
and focus on providing training that promotes integrated 
interdiction efforts.  Additionally, post will continue to 
advocate judicial reform measures that enable more efficient 
investigations and ensure more effective punishment for 
narcotics traffickers. 
 
-------------------------- 
¶V. Chemical Control 
--------------------------- 
 
Because of the prominence of amphetamine production 
in-country and frequent transit of precursor shipments to 
Western Europe, Poland is active in monitoring and 
controlling the flow of precursor substances.  Poland is a 
member of EUROPOL's Analysis Work File (AWF) program called 
Project Synergy, which focuses on synthetic drugs.  It 
participates in TRAP, a bilateral Polish-Lithuanian program 
operating under BALTCOM, the Task Force on Organized Crime in 
the Baltic Sea Region.  TRAP targets BMK (benzyl methyl 
ketone, an amphetamine precursor) trafficking to the EU, 
particularly to Belgium and the Netherlands, from Russia. 
Poland also has bilateral programs in place with Russia to 
improve cooperation on the expert level for the prosecution 
of narcotics cases, which have been implemented in cases 
related to Phenyl-2-Propanone (P2P) smuggling through 
Lithuania, Ukraine and Belarus. 
 
End text. 
ASHE