PRESS RELEASE: Viennagate
January 27, 2003 · By EURAD
The Head of Demand Reduction at the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime in Vienna last November has been forced to resign.
Mike Trace (formerly Dep. Drug Tsar in the UK until his appointment as head of EMCDDA in Lisbon) was subsequently appointed to this influential post with the UN last November. However, it seems Mr Trace’s position became untenable when Antonio Maria Costa received information that he was masterminding a European drug legalisation campaign. This campaign is bankrolled by George Soros (who has been convicted of insider trading by a French Court) using his Open Society as a cover. This group, who have adopted the name Forward Thinking on Drugs have also pocketed 1m euros from the King Baudouin Fund. A coalition of these groups with links within the EP (about 150 MEP’s including Irish Green Party Member Patricia McKenna) are signatories to a petition to be presented at the UN Review Meeting to be held in
Vienna in early April.
Several documents, letters, minutes from secret meetings, secret plans, references to meetings and phone calls clearly show that the campaign was planned to take place before the mid-term review of the 1998 UNGASS meeting in New York at a special assembly in Vienna in April.
To quote Mike Trace “A fifth column role would allow me to oversee the setting up of the agency while promoting it’s aims subtly in formal government settings”. He goes on to state that he would use the UK based charity Release as a ‘cover’ for statements that he himself would write.
A large number of NGOs’ including EURAD have been calling on the UN to dismiss Mike Trace and we wholeheartedly welcome the outcome. We now insist that the Irish Government enquire as to the reasons why someone with a long history of promoting drug legalisation was appointed to such a sensitive position. We further demand that our Government state very clearly their support of and adherence to all of the UN Conventions ratified by them during the Review in April .
Woman of Europe Award – Médaille de Maire de Strasbourg – Médaille de Maire de Paris – Swedish
Parent Award Lord Mayor’s Award Dublin – Drug Watch USA International Delegate for Ireland
EURAD’s delegates and affiliates are in Europe, the USA, Canada, South America, New Zealand, Australia.
EURAD holds consultative status with the Council of Europe, Strasbourg. EURAD is a member of the NGO Committee on Narcotic Drugs at the UN Office, Vienna. Reg. No. Stichting EURAD S-155759, Chamber of
Commerce, The Hague, The Netherlands.
