1. The Pontifical Council for the Family, the Vatican's leading policy-making body on doctrinal matters related to family life, released a "Pastoral Reflection" January 23 entitled "Liberalization of Drugs?" The document rejects distinction between hard and soft drugs, opposes legalization of drugs across the board, and supports strong anti drug legislation and enforcement. Vatican officials described the treatise as a response to questions they have received regarding "proposals presented in diverse countries aimed at the adoption legislation of which would control the use of drugs, allowing for an easier access to the so-called 'light drugs'".

2. The following are excerpts from the Council's "Reflection".

Begin text:....."The Council consulted experts from different countries and the leaders of several therapeutic communities. The document explores the ever-growing phenomenon of drug abuse, its extension from a relatively elite group to growing numbers of people of all social classes and the harm it causes individuals, families and society, with a particular emphasis on young people. Our concern here goes in the first place to young people - adolescents and young adults - for it is they who are, today, the first victims of drugs."

....."When one presents arguments for or against bills for the legalization of 'soft drugs', one must avoid not only simplifications or generalizations, but above all the politicization of a question which is deeply human and ethical."

....."The document studies the negative physical and psychological effects of certain chemical substances, which often give the user a sense of isolation and finally addiction by passing to stronger and stronger products...These effects vary from one drug to another without one being able to clearly distinguish on the pharmacological level between a class of 'soft drugs' and a class of 'hard drugs'".

....."The Council reflects on today's world where the child is very early left to himself and where numerous youths arrive at the threshold of adolescence without a true origination or inner structure...They therefore see points of support and cultivate numerous relationships of dependency on others, on diverse products or compulsive, risky behaviors."

....."While parents seek to teach their children what one can do and what must not do, what is good and what is bad, they frequently have the impression that their educational attitude is made fragile or is undermined by ideas and images which circulate in society...They do not want their children to take drugs at the very time when certain people are fighting to legalize the sale and use of products which favor drug dependency."

....."Do people really know why it would be necessary to legalize the free circulation of drugs? Do people really want to fight against drugs, when they have already thrown in the sponge? Are they giving in to what is easy and to demagoguery, or are they seriously trying to prevent it?"

....."The legalization of drugs carries the risk of effects opposite to those studied. In fact, one easily admits that what is legal is what is normal, good, moral. Through the legalization of drugs it is not the product which, in fact, is liberalized, but the reasons which lead to the consumption of the product which are validated."

....."Besides, from the moment the law recognizes this behavior as normal, one could ask how public authorities would face the duty of educating and helping the persons at risk that this legislation would imply...One must consider the social fallout of this legislation. Can one envision without feat the development of criminality, of illnesses linked to addiction, of traffic accidents that easy access to drugs would cause? Does the state really have the financial means and the personnel to face this growth of health problems which the liberalization of drugs would inevitably involve?"

....."In the face of these questions, the state first has the duty to watch over the common good....While assuring the common good, the state also has the duty of watching over the well-being of its citizens....It does not have the right to resign itself from its duty vis-a-vis those who have not yet achieved maturity and those who are potential victims of drugs."

....."The Church wishes to recall the stakes of this phenomenon. She underlines the fact that, in the perspective of a legalization of the sale and use of products which favor drug dependency, it is the destiny of persons which is in play. Some will have their life diminished, at times shattered, while other, perhaps without falling into true addiction, will ruin their youthful years without truly developing their possibilities. One cannot experiment at the expense of people. Behavior leading to drug dependency has no chance of being corrected if the products which reinforce this behavior are put on sale freely."

(Source: R281413Z Jan 97. FM AMEMBASSY ROME. TO SECSTATE WASHDC 4187. Unclas Section 01 of 02 Rome 000694. Department for INL, G and EUR/WE. From Embassy Vatican / Message No. 017/97)