Last minute amendment to drugs bill slammed as “destructive”

News desk BALEARIC health minister Aina Salom said yesterday that the last-minute amendment to the law on drug dependency presented by the Popular Party (PP) was “destructive opposition, with the only purpose of damaging the Progress Pact, without evaluating the negative consequences for residents.” She was speaking at a Press conference with social welfare minister Fernanda Caro, to explain the Balearic government's posture on the amendment. She said it had ruined the work of several years, adding that the law had been agreed on by all parties and all the sectors involved. She added that the conservatives had not made any contribution to it at the time, but nor had they opposed it, until they presented an amendment to the whole bill, which she described as “destructive.” Caro pointed out that the conservatives had not provided an alternative bill with their amendment, and their only argument against it was that it “did not respond to the needs of residents.” Both ministers claimed that all the conservatives wanted to do was reach the end of the legislature without a law on drugs in order to harm the ruling coalition or Progress Pact. Salom said that the Balearics was the only region without such a law. A 1999 central directive ruled that each region should have its own law on drugs. The bill banned the advertising of tobacco and alcohol aimed at under 18s and also covered soft and hard drugs.