The global drug war and the Nixon connection Failed policies in the war against drugs have historical roots in the foreign policy objectives of powerful nations.
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| Border patrol officers on the Mexico-US border have long struggled with contolling drug trafficking [GALLO/GETTY] |
On June 2, a report form the prestigious Global Commission on Drug Policy told the world what it already knew: the decades-long war on drugs has been a spectacular failure.
“The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world,”said the report in its executive summary, “fundamental reforms in national and global drug control policies are urgently needed.”
As one indication of how badly the war on drugs has failed, the report cited UN data showing a 34.5 per cent increase in opiate use from 1998 to 2008, along with a 27 per cent increase in cocaine and an 8.5 per cent increase in cannabis.
It went on to highlight counter-productive aspects of the war on drugs, noting that “repressive efforts directed at consumers impede public health measures to reduce HIV/AIDS, overdose fatalities
and other harmful consequences of drug use”.
and other harmful consequences of drug use”.
The report also stated that ”government expenditures on futile supply reduction strategies and incarceration displace more cost-effective and evidence-based investments in demand and harm reduction”.
The commission’s membership includes former UN Secretary-General Kofi Anan, as well as former presidents of Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Switzerland, the current Prime Minister of Greece, former US Secretary of State George P Shultz, and former US Federal Reserve Chair, Paul Volker. Prominent writers Carlos Fuentes and Mario Vargas Llosa and businessman Richard Branson, are among other members.
The report recommended four guiding principles for national and international drug policies, replacing the current prison-filling approach:
- Drug policies must be based on solid empirical and scientific evidence. The primary measure of success should be the reduction of harm to the health, security and welfare of individuals and society.
- Drug policies must be based on human rights and public health principles. We should end the stigmatisation and marginalisation of people who use certain drugs and those involved in the lower levels of cultivation, production and distribution, and treat people dependent on drugs as patients, not criminals.
- The development and implementation of drug policies should be a global shared responsibility, but also needs to take into consideration diverse political, social and cultural realities. Policies should respect the rights and needs of people affected by production, trafficking and consumption, as explicitly acknowledged in the 1988 Convention on Drug Trafficking.
- Drug policies must be pursued in a comprehensive manner, involving families, schools, public health specialists, development practitioners and civil society leaders, in partnership with law enforcement agencies and other relevant governmental bodies.
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