Internship with the Council of Europe’s Groupe Pompidou on Drug Policy

My overseas service experience has been totally different from what I expected last Spring. I was actually going to work with a group called SOS Femme, that helps women who are victims of domestic violence; it wouldn’t have been as involved as I would have liked though, due to the organization’s inherent privacy requirements and the fact that high emotions associated with abuse often intensify language barriers. Anyways, I’ve been working with the oldest drug policy organization in Europe, which has evolved over the last 30 years from a hands on, data-collecting group to an intragovernmental think tank. They coordinate most of Europe’s efforts to combat drug use, connect experts, and develop useful indicators and measuring mechanisms for the EU’s directive in Lisbon.

The boundaries of this position have removed me from direct concerns in the field but introduced me to a bigger picture that involves NGOs, Governments, Non-state actors, dealers, addicts, and the public. I like the personal connection of being at a grass-roots level, but I can see myself building a career shaping macro-policy as well.

I’ve actually had the same general scheme of projects thus far in my internship: I do a lot of translating and editting. We have been preparing for a big Minesterial Conference that will be held at the end of November, and I am the only native-english speaker after the Group’s Director. This may appear to be a disappointing excuse for “service”, and I wouldn’t wholly deny that; however, I know that even with community-based partners it is difficult to find challenging and engaging work. Additionally, I am one of the more utilized interns at the Council, at the documents I read are incredibly interesting.

I just finished a whopping publication entitled: “Responding to Drug Markets and Drug Related Public Nuisance”. The featured policies focus on eliminating “Open Drug Scenes”, which are public areas where people buy/sell and use drugs. In parts of Europe, this involves users shooting up in parks and train stations, then leaving syringes lying about.

This publication compares national methods for handling open drug scenes, discusses cooperation between socio-health agencies and law enforcement, federal v. local policy, the roles of prevention and intervention, and case studies from amsterdam, zurich, frankfurt, dublin, vienna, stockholm, oslo, and utrecht.

The general approach of Europeans to controlling drug use is so different from what we are used to in America. Policy makers are much more concerned with the health of the users, their rights as citizens, and handling them in a respectful manner. Huge prison sentences aren’t really common, and the industry isn’t as alienized.

I’ve never been very judgemental about why people turn to drug use, however I used to think a hard line that really criminalized use was appropriate. This publication has made me understand life outside my suburbian bubble and even the American Way. While I still think it is critical to ensure that children have a sever deterrant and innocent community members can live without harassment from local abusers, we have to accept that drug abuse will happen in any society. It isn’t exactly realistic to expect abusers to respond quickly to conventional measures, and I’ve been fascinated by the local-level partnerships that many European cities use. Action is most effective on a city-wide level, although national direction and international unity are also important.

My goal for the last month is to follow my supervisor around more, so I can understand his job as a policy-maker. He’s been all over the field working on social policy and human rights—he was even the Council’s man in Chechnya documenting Russia’s complaince/lack therof to international human rights principles. I hope I can understand what experiences have shaped the way he sees drug policy.

Lastly, being an intern at a European Intragovt. Organization is SO different from anything I’ve had in the States or at the DOS this summer. Work is so much more casual, technology is much more lax, and women are definitely perceived differently. I know this last bit isn’t really relevant, but seeing real working experiences has helped me realize what I expect from a career after college.

-Joy Basu, October 2006