WASHINGTON – A high-level international commission declared the global “war on drugs” a failure and urged nations to consider legalising cannabis and other drugs to undermine organised crime and protect citizens’ health.
The Global Commission on Drug Policy called for a new approach to reducing drug abuse to replace the strategy of strictly criminalising drugs and incarcerating drug users while battling criminal cartels.
“The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world,” said the report issued by the commission yesterday.
The study urges “experimentation by governments with models of legal regulation of drugs”, adding: “this recommendation applies especially to cannabis, but we also encourage other experiments in decriminalisation and legal regulation.”
There are 250 million users of illicit drugs worldwide, with less than one-tenth classified as dependent, and millions involved in cultivation, production and distribution, according to UN estimates. The study says decriminalisation initiatives do not result in significant increases in drug use.
“Now is the time to break the taboo on discussion of all drug policy options, including alternatives to drug prohibition,” former Colombian president Cesar Gaviria said. The 19-member panel includes Greek prime minister George Papandreou and former heads of state, former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, British businessman Richard Branson and former US secretary of state George Shultz.
The commission said fundamental reforms were urgently needed in national and global drug control policies.
Additional recommendations include replacing the criminalisation and punishment of people who are drug users but do not hurt other people with the offer of health and treatment services.
It urges that law enforcement focus on violent organised crime and drug traffickers. And another strand is that alternative sentences for small-scale and first-time drug dealers should be investigated, as the majority of these people are not gangsters or organised criminals.
Other members of the panel include former Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo; former Swiss president Ruth Dreifuss; former Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso; and former US Federal Reserve chief Paul Volcker.
The report says “vast expenditure” have been spent on criminalisation and repressive measures. “Repressive efforts directed at consumers impede public health measures to reduce HIV/Aids, overdose fatalities and other harmful consequences of drug use.”
The commission’s report states money spent by governments on futile efforts to reduce the supply of drugs and on jailing people on drug-related offences could be better spent on different ways to reduce drug demand and the harm caused by drug abuse.
The full report can be viewed at: globalcommissionondrugs.org/Report