The Global Commission on Drug Policy report calls for the legalisation of some drugs and an end to the criminalisation of drug users.
The panel includes former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the former leaders of Mexico, Colombia and Brazil, and the entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson.
The US and Mexican governments have rejected the findings as misguided.
The Global Commission's 24-page report argues that anti-drug policy has failed by fuelling organised crime, costing taxpayers millions of dollars and causing thousands of deaths.
It cites UN estimates that opiate use increased 35% worldwide from 1998 to 2008, cocaine by 27%, and cannabis by 8.5%.
But how could we have known such a social experiment would have failed? What from our past could have ever indicated that criminalizing a substance would lead to a rise in organized crime, violent turf wars, and tainted, more dangerous substances?
Oh right…
People will always find a way around it. We're just making it more lucrative for drug dealers. As laws increase, only the best, wealthiest drug lords are left.
ReplyDeleteI dunno, there's a lot of lazy slackers in the drug world. But yeah, I share your overall sentiments.
ReplyDeleteWhat's really insulting is that drug users are pretty much not that amazing... so what does that say about the people fighting the war on drugs if they can't even beat a bunch of stoners, tweakers, and dopers?