Estonia and Lithuania also appear wary of the kind of liberal approach outlined recently in a draft report by the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly.
Latvia's drug policy aims to reduce both supply and demand. It involves prevention, rehabilitation and cracking down on drug abusers and dealers with harsh punishment.
With the battle to legalize cannabis far from won in the EU as a whole, Maris Ozols, spokesman for the Latvian Parliament's European affairs committee, said a more liberal approach could hardly win his country the kind of influential friends it needs.
"I don't think the EU will give us bad marks if we take a stance against drugs," he said.
Priidu Parna, deputy secretary general at the Estonian Ministry of Justice, said decriminalizing drugs could have grave consequences for the rest of Europe, besides which drug policies were not currently a hot topic in the country.
"There is discussion about what to do when it comes to how to deal with drugs, but there is a possibility that we could become a transit country for drugs from Russia to Europe," he said.
Daiva Jakaite, head of the justice and interior affairs unit of Lithuania's European committee, said Lithuanian legislation is in line with EU requirements, and that the EU wanted Lithuania to maintain a strict policy when it came to fighting the use of illegal substances.
"I don't think the Lithuanian government will allow for any liberalization when it comes to using illegal drugs, and public opinion is very much against the decriminalization of drugs," she said.
But recent changes to the law in EU member states show a more lenient approach.
Danilo Balotta, project manager at the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction, told The Baltic Times that there are clear tendencies toward new ways of viewing drug use in the EU.
"In England they are decriminalizing the use of cannabis, making it a non-arrestable offense," Balotta said. "It would be like running a red light with your car. Police won't take you to the station, but they will give you a fine."
In Portugal, drugs were decriminalized completely last summer. Drug users are brought before a panel consisting of social workers, doctors and lawyers, who, if the person is considered a drug addict, could send the person to a habit breaking program.
"The EU is thinking of downgrading sanctions for cannabis or decriminalizing it," Balotta said. "It's much more difficult to make contact with drug users if they are considered criminals and get caught up in the legal system."
The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly's draft report published on Nov. 7 concluded that the spread of drug use in a given country does not depend on how harsh the laws restricting drug use are.
The Latvian government's official stance passed Jan. 8 says that the draft report does not consider what other EU and U.N. institutions have concluded in earlier reports.
Moreover, the government believes the draft report goes against various expert opinions on the matter.
Some 110 people died in Latvia last year as a direct result of drug abuse. Most overdosed on heroin. The other deaths were related to amphetamine and ephedrine abuse.
In 2000 the total number of drug-related deaths in Latvia was 129. Most of the dead were men under the age of 30.
Latvian road police say that last year they detained 209 people driving under the influence of narcotic substances - 50 more than the previous year.
Forty-four of the detained had caused traffic accidents.
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