Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan penned an essay on Der Spiegel’s website yesterday in which he calls to end the global “War on Drugs” and describes international drug policies as more dangerous than the drugs themselves.
Annan, 77, says the War on Drugs has helped to create a “vast, international criminal market in drugs that fuels violence, corruption and instability.”
“I believe that drugs have destroyed many lives, but wrong government policies have destroyed many more,” Annan writes.
More from Der Spiegel:
Policy based on common assumptions and popular sentiments can become a recipe for mistaken prescriptions and misguided interventions.
Nowhere is this divorce between rhetoric and reality more evident than in the formulation of global drug policies, where too often emotions and ideology rather than evidence have prevailed.
Trillions of dollars have been wasted, millions of people have been incarcerated, thousands have died and countless lives have been destroyed in the name of fighting a “War on Drugs,” which is a war that cannot be won, Annan says.
In his impassioned essay, the Nobel Peace Prize winner lays out four “critical steps” for addressing the disastrous and “unintended consequences” of a failed War on Drugs.
“First, we must decriminalize personal drug use.
“Second, we need to accept that a drug-free world is an illusion.
“Third, we have to look at regulation and public education rather than the total suppression of drugs, which we know will not work.
“The fourth and final step is to recognize that drugs must be regulated precisely because they are risky.”
The United Nations General Assembly is set to hold a special session on drugs between April 19 and 21. Annan urges governments around the world to use this as an opportunity to change course and acknowledge that legalizing and regulating drugs will save many lives.
It’s time to admit that drugs are “infinitely more dangerous” when they are pushed into the black market and controlled by criminals, he says.
http://national.suntimes.com/nation...annan-says-end-war-on-drugs-legalize-regulate
Annan, 77, says the War on Drugs has helped to create a “vast, international criminal market in drugs that fuels violence, corruption and instability.”
“I believe that drugs have destroyed many lives, but wrong government policies have destroyed many more,” Annan writes.
More from Der Spiegel:
Policy based on common assumptions and popular sentiments can become a recipe for mistaken prescriptions and misguided interventions.
Nowhere is this divorce between rhetoric and reality more evident than in the formulation of global drug policies, where too often emotions and ideology rather than evidence have prevailed.
Trillions of dollars have been wasted, millions of people have been incarcerated, thousands have died and countless lives have been destroyed in the name of fighting a “War on Drugs,” which is a war that cannot be won, Annan says.
In his impassioned essay, the Nobel Peace Prize winner lays out four “critical steps” for addressing the disastrous and “unintended consequences” of a failed War on Drugs.
“First, we must decriminalize personal drug use.
“Second, we need to accept that a drug-free world is an illusion.
“Third, we have to look at regulation and public education rather than the total suppression of drugs, which we know will not work.
“The fourth and final step is to recognize that drugs must be regulated precisely because they are risky.”
The United Nations General Assembly is set to hold a special session on drugs between April 19 and 21. Annan urges governments around the world to use this as an opportunity to change course and acknowledge that legalizing and regulating drugs will save many lives.
It’s time to admit that drugs are “infinitely more dangerous” when they are pushed into the black market and controlled by criminals, he says.
http://national.suntimes.com/nation...annan-says-end-war-on-drugs-legalize-regulate
