World leaders urge United Nations to end failed War on Drugs

Written By Emily Gray Brosious 

 

 

(Photo credit: John Moore/Getty Images)

World leaders and more than 200 major NGOs want the UN to reverse international drug-war policies.

The United Nations is scheduled to hold its highest-level drug policy session in nearly 20 years this April, and prominent leaders and organizations say the meeting must do more to address the failed War on Drugs.

The Global Commission on Drug Policy, which counts former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and entrepreneur Richard Branson among its many prominent members, released a public statement Friday outlining further steps that must be taken during the upcoming UN drugs meeting.

The group argues that people’s health, safety and human rights around the world cannot be met without addressing the following items of concern:

• Ending the criminalization and incarceration of drug users
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• Abolishing capital punishment for drug-related offenses
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• Empowering the World Health Organization (WHO) to review the scheduling system of drugs on the basis of scientific evidence
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• Ensuring a broad spectrum of treatments for dependent people and services designed to reduce the harms of drugs
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• Allowing governments to apply different approaches to drug regulation in order to maximize public health and disempower organized crime.

“Ultimately government-led regulation and prevention is the surest pathway to reducing the negative effects of drug use. Yet regulation is still prohibited by the UN Drug Conventions,” the group says.

The Global Commission on Drug Policy joins more than 225 civil rights, health and faith-based groups pushing for the upcoming UN session to be used as a starting point for steering international drug policy away from criminalization, according to a release from StoptheDrugWar.org.

Groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, AIDS foundation, Drug Policy Alliance, Harm Reduction Coalition and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers criticize the Obama administration’s plans for the upcoming UN session, saying they take “a short-term approach, stopping short of the crucial reforms called for by UN agencies and US allies.”

The groups penned a joint letter to President Obama, urging the administration to push the UN to seriously examine tensions facing and stemming from current drug control strategies.

They say it’s time for a new international drug strategy that prioritizes health and human rights over drug-war tactics.

The groups also argue that current U.S. drug policies, particularly federal marijuana prohibition, are ”likely to face shrinking credibility internationally as legalization spreads to more states.”

Per StoptheDrugWar.org’s release:

The last UNGASS, in 1998, used the slogan, “A Drug Free World. We Can Do It!” Since that time, four US states and the District of Columbia have legalized cannabis, as has the nation of Uruguay.
Canada’s prime minister has pledged to do so as well. Many other countries have decriminalized possession of certain drugs or have implemented harm reduction measures like syringe exchange programs.
While UN drug agencies have warned that legalization policies may violate the treaties, the push for reform doesn’t appear to be slowing anytime soon.