Monday, June 06, 2011

The Global Commission on Drug Policy Says the War on Drugs has been a disaster

The commission, composed of the likes of Kofi Annan, George Schultz, Paul Volker, Richard Branson, Mario Vargas Llosa, Ex Presidents of Mexico, Brazil, Switzerland, the current PM of Greece all agree that the war on drugs has been an unmitigated global disaster.  Their principal recommendations are as follows:

1. End the criminalization, marginalization and stigmatization of people who use drugs but who do no harm to others.

2. Encourage experimentation by governments with models of legal regulation of drugs to undermine the power of organized crime and safeguard the health and security of their citizens.

3. Offer health and treatment services to those in need.

4. Abolish abusive practices carried out in the name of treatment – such as forced detention, forced labor, and physical or psychological abuse – that contravene human rights standards and norms or that remove the right to self-determination.

5. Invest in activities that can both prevent young people from taking drugs in the first place and also prevent those who do use drugs from developing more serious problems. Eschew simplistic ‘just say no’ messages and ‘zero tolerance’ policies in favor of educational efforts grounded in credible information and prevention programs that focus on social skills and peer influences.

6. Begin the transformation of the global drug prohibition regime. Replace drug policies and strategies driven by ideology and political convenience with fiscally responsible policies and strategies grounded in science, health, security and human rights.

Break the taboo on debate and reform. The time for action is now."

With almost a third of all adult American men defined as 'criminals' and almost half of African American men stigmatized, with incarceration rates 5 times above our long term historical norms, it's time to clip the state's wings and leave people alone.

Yet our drug 'warriors' (pathetic losers, really) are now advocating that we militarize our southern border.

Fascist and insane.  I wonder what our Drug user in Chief (a confessed ex-user both weed and coke) will do?  I bet nothing - after all, it could harm his reelection chances.  BHO - the savior of the black man?

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