At 11:45am today, in the Sala Clementina in the Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience the group of persons participating in the 31st International Drug Enforcement Conference which was held in Rome from June 17 to 19, 2014.
Distinguished Gentlemen,
I am happy to meet with you at the end of the International Drug Enforcement Conference. I thank you for your visit and I express to you my appreciation for the work you carry out, addressing such a grave and complex problem for our times. I hope that these days in Rome will mark a profitable stage in your commitment. In particular, I hope that you will be able to attain the objectives that you set out for yourselves, to coordinate anti-drug policies, to share related information and to develop an operational strategy geared toward stemming the trafficking of drugs. Perhaps the shares in the trafficking of drugs are those that render the most money in the market. And this is a tragic situation.
The scourge of drugs continues to rage in impressive ways and dimensions, fueling a shameful market, which jumps over national and continental boundaries. So the danger continues to grow for young people and adolescents. Faced of this phenomenon, I feel the need to express my grief and concern.
I would like to say with great clarity: drugs are not overcome by more drugs! Drugs are an evil, and there cannot be any room left for concession or compromises. To think that the damage can be reduced by agreeing to the use of psychotic drugs for persons who continue to use drugs, does not in fact resolve the problem. The legalization of so-called “light drugs,” even partial legislation, beyond being less debatable on the legislative plane, do not produce the effects fixed beforehand. Substitutive drugs then, are not a sufficient therapy but a veiled way of surrendering to the phenomenon. I intend to confirm what I already said on another occasion: no to every type of drug; simply no to any type of drug (cf. General Audience, May 7, 2014). However, to say this no, it is necessary to say yes to life, yes to love, yes to others, yes to education, yes to sport, yes to work, yes to more opportunities for work. Let us think about all the young people who have no work. I believe the figure is 75 million in Europe. I think ... I’m not sure ... I don’t want to say something that isn’t true. But let us think of a young person: he is not studying and he is not working. He enters into this lack of horizon, this lack of hope, and the first offer made is dependencies, among which are drugs. This … the opportunity for work, education, sports, a healthy life: this is the way to prevent the abuse of drugs. If we realize these Yes's, there is no place for drugs, there is no place for the abuse of alcohol and for other dependencies.
The Church, faithful to Jesus’ mandate to go wherever there is a suffering, thirsty, hungry or imprisoned human being (cf. Matthew 25:31-46), has not abandoned those who have fallen into the spiral of drugs, but with her creative love has gone out to meet them. She has taken them by the hand, through the work of so many workers and volunteers, so that they can rediscover their dignity, helping them to resurrect those resources, those personal talents that drugs buried, but could not annihilate, from the moment that every man is created in the image and likeness of God (cf. Genesis 1:26). However, this work of recovery is very limited, it’s not sufficient. We need to work on prevention. This will do much good.
The example of so many young people who, wanting to overcome of their dependence on drugs, commit themselves to reconstructing their lives, is a stimulus to henceforth look toward with confidence.
Distinguished gentlemen, I encourage you to continue your work with ever greater hope. I wish you the best and bless you with all my heart. Thank you.
Speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the meeting with members of the
International Drug Enforcement Conference
Distinguished Gentlemen,
I am happy to meet with you at the end of the International Drug Enforcement Conference. I thank you for your visit and I express to you my appreciation for the work you carry out, addressing such a grave and complex problem for our times. I hope that these days in Rome will mark a profitable stage in your commitment. In particular, I hope that you will be able to attain the objectives that you set out for yourselves, to coordinate anti-drug policies, to share related information and to develop an operational strategy geared toward stemming the trafficking of drugs. Perhaps the shares in the trafficking of drugs are those that render the most money in the market. And this is a tragic situation.
The scourge of drugs continues to rage in impressive ways and dimensions, fueling a shameful market, which jumps over national and continental boundaries. So the danger continues to grow for young people and adolescents. Faced of this phenomenon, I feel the need to express my grief and concern.
I would like to say with great clarity: drugs are not overcome by more drugs! Drugs are an evil, and there cannot be any room left for concession or compromises. To think that the damage can be reduced by agreeing to the use of psychotic drugs for persons who continue to use drugs, does not in fact resolve the problem. The legalization of so-called “light drugs,” even partial legislation, beyond being less debatable on the legislative plane, do not produce the effects fixed beforehand. Substitutive drugs then, are not a sufficient therapy but a veiled way of surrendering to the phenomenon. I intend to confirm what I already said on another occasion: no to every type of drug; simply no to any type of drug (cf. General Audience, May 7, 2014). However, to say this no, it is necessary to say yes to life, yes to love, yes to others, yes to education, yes to sport, yes to work, yes to more opportunities for work. Let us think about all the young people who have no work. I believe the figure is 75 million in Europe. I think ... I’m not sure ... I don’t want to say something that isn’t true. But let us think of a young person: he is not studying and he is not working. He enters into this lack of horizon, this lack of hope, and the first offer made is dependencies, among which are drugs. This … the opportunity for work, education, sports, a healthy life: this is the way to prevent the abuse of drugs. If we realize these Yes's, there is no place for drugs, there is no place for the abuse of alcohol and for other dependencies.
The Church, faithful to Jesus’ mandate to go wherever there is a suffering, thirsty, hungry or imprisoned human being (cf. Matthew 25:31-46), has not abandoned those who have fallen into the spiral of drugs, but with her creative love has gone out to meet them. She has taken them by the hand, through the work of so many workers and volunteers, so that they can rediscover their dignity, helping them to resurrect those resources, those personal talents that drugs buried, but could not annihilate, from the moment that every man is created in the image and likeness of God (cf. Genesis 1:26). However, this work of recovery is very limited, it’s not sufficient. We need to work on prevention. This will do much good.
The example of so many young people who, wanting to overcome of their dependence on drugs, commit themselves to reconstructing their lives, is a stimulus to henceforth look toward with confidence.
Distinguished gentlemen, I encourage you to continue your work with ever greater hope. I wish you the best and bless you with all my heart. Thank you.
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