I'm a little late on this, but last week Italy's parliament passed an intense zero-tolerance law, going back on the more relaxed drug laws they passed in the 1990s. The law, which is likely to be signed by the president, criminalizes possession and has a penalty of 6-20 years in prison for trafficking anything from marijuana to heroin.

The guy who proposed this law, Gianfranco Fini, is described by the Guardian as the "leader of the formerly neo-fascist National Alliance." Yipe. There is also this tidbit:

Two years ago, he declared that a new approach was needed because drug-taking was a "rejection of the most elementary duties of the individual towards the various communities in which he or she lives."

This struck me as an interesting articulation of the idea that people get so worked up about punishing drug users because they feel that drug users are getting away with something, and violating the social contract. What does Fini think the individual's "most elementary duties" are? If we were even able to come to some agreement about an individual's responsibilities towards his/her community (ha!), could he really provide evidence that drug users are neglecting said duties, and would tend to them if they did not have access to drugs?

And then of course there is the point that it is pretty hard to maintain any duties towards your community if you are in prison. Hmm.

Tags: Italy, zero tolerance.