Major International Leaders Plead for the US and the World to Get Smart and Stop the War on Drugs

[one...two...tree 2,762]

The Waldorf Astoria may be worlds away from the blood-spotted streets of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, where the "drug war" has taken over 35,000 lives; the fiefdom-like favelas of Rio, Brazil, where even the police don't go; or Pakistan, one of the lowest-ranking on human development in the world, and neighbor to its largest opium producer. But members of the Global Commission on Drug Policy came to the famed New York hotel Friday to bring together leading thinkers and call for an end to the global "war on drugs," whose failed policies have claimed thousands of victims around the world over the last five decades.

The Commission on Drug Policy released a report Thursday outlining these failures and recommending reforms, among them a shift from criminalization to public health and from incarceration to consideration of a full range of alternatives, from decriminalization to legalization and regulation.

Despite the evidence, the political will and public support to transform drug policy remains anemic, as voiced by Ricken Patel, executive director at Avaaz, a global advocacy organization. He described his initial reaction to the drug policy commission at the New York press conference: "What have these people been smoking?"

But the commission's mandate is perhaps unprecedentedly deep and broad; the commissioners hail from 15 countries around the world, from North and Latin America, to Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. They are four former presidents, United Nations dignitaries, authors and intellectuals, health and security officials, NGO directors and entrepreneurs.

Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former president of Brazil, chairs the commission that also boasts a Nobel laureate; Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa won the Nobel prize for literature this year. Kofi Annan is a personally impassioned member, due to regrets that he did not do more on drug policy in his former capacity as Secretary General of the UN, according to fellow member Richard Branson, entrepreneur, public advocate and the man who also said that within one year he'll be sending civilians into space. Asma Jahangir, former UN Special Rapporteur on Arbitrary, Extrajudicial and Summary Executions, is from Pakistan, and George Papandreou, one of the commission's only acting heads of state, is prime minister of the beleaguered country of Greece.

Public support for an end to the war on drugs shows signs of shifting as well. Patel presented Cardoso with a golf-check-like board, citing over 550,000 signatures of support from every country in the world for their campaign to overhaul global drug policy -- with an additional 1,500 added during the meeting itself, according to Patel. The commission delivered its report and the petition to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon today.

more...

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/151197/major_international_leaders_plead_for_the_us_and_the_world_to_get_smart_and_stop_the_war_on_drugs/

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

I think the DEA budget is just shy of 20 billion. (guess - late 90's it was 16 billion) That's a place we should cut to 1/4.

[slim 1,530]

I think the DEA budget is just shy of 20 billion. (guess - late 90's it was 16 billion) That's a place we should cut to 1/4.

Or 0. If they had a budget of 0 we could stop taking 20 billion a year from hard-working Americans who earn it.

[The Dude 206]

Or 0. If they had a budget of 0 we could stop taking 20 billion a year from hard-working Americans who earn it.

Sorry slim, this is where the libertarians begin to look like the fringe nutjobs they really are. All drugs should not be legal. Maybe legalize pot, but we do not need to legalize crack and heroin for you criminals.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

The Waldorf Astoria may be worlds away from the blood-spotted streets of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, where the "drug war" has taken over 35,000 lives; the fiefdom-like favelas of Rio, Brazil, where even the police don't go; or Pakistan, one of the lowest-ranking on human development in the world, and neighbor to its largest opium producer. But members of the Global Commission on Drug Policy came to the famed New York hotel Friday to bring together leading thinkers and call for an end to the global "war on drugs," whose failed policies have claimed thousands of victims around the world over the last five decades.

The Commission on Drug Policy released a report Thursday outlining these failures and recommending reforms, among them a shift from criminalization to public health and from incarceration to consideration of a full range of alternatives, from decriminalization to legalization and regulation.

Despite the evidence, the political will and public support to transform drug policy remains anemic, as voiced by Ricken Patel, executive director at Avaaz, a global advocacy organization. He described his initial reaction to the drug policy commission at the New York press conference: "What have these people been smoking?"

But the commission's mandate is perhaps unprecedentedly deep and broad; the commissioners hail from 15 countries around the world, from North and Latin America, to Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. They are four former presidents, United Nations dignitaries, authors and intellectuals, health and security officials, NGO directors and entrepreneurs.

Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former president of Brazil, chairs the commission that also boasts a Nobel laureate; Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa won the Nobel prize for literature this year. Kofi Annan is a personally impassioned member, due to regrets that he did not do more on drug policy in his former capacity as Secretary General of the UN, according to fellow member Richard Branson, entrepreneur, public advocate and the man who also said that within one year he'll be sending civilians into space. Asma Jahangir, former UN Special Rapporteur on Arbitrary, Extrajudicial and Summary Executions, is from Pakistan, and George Papandreou, one of the commission's only acting heads of state, is prime minister of the beleaguered country of Greece.

Public support for an end to the war on drugs shows signs of shifting as well. Patel presented Cardoso with a golf-check-like board, citing over 550,000 signatures of support from every country in the world for their campaign to overhaul global drug policy -- with an additional 1,500 added during the meeting itself, according to Patel. The commission delivered its report and the petition to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon today.

more...

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/151197/major_international_leaders_plead_for_the_us_and_the_world_to_get_smart_and_stop_the_war_on_drugs/

Way overdue, given that US government actually smuggled in heroin 1981-1988 to "help Afghan resistance"--which undermined the entire "war-on-drugs" in the first place!

[웃 910]

I think the DEA budget is just shy of 20 billion. (guess - late 90's it was 16 billion) That's a place we should cut to 1/4.

Employees10,784 (2009)

Annual budget US$2.415 billion (2010)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_Enforcement_Administration

Edited June 7, 2011 by Lord Infamous

[The Dude 206]

Employees10,784 (2009)

Annual budget US$2.415 billion (2010)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_Enforcement_Administration

That is just their stated budget. There is quite a bit of additional funding that comes from other (public) sources like grants and one off payments to cover ongoing special operations etc.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

The war on drugs is an eternal war that will never be won and that has not prevented a single person that wants to use drugs from doing just that. It has, on the other hand, made a few people very, very rich. It's a colossal fail and will never be anything else. Legalize this ####### and regulate and tax it. The drug cartels will be out of business overnight and not a single person that doesn't want to use drugs will start doing it because we ended this costly failure known as the war on drugs. It's the stupidest thing ever invented. Right up there with the war on terrorism.

Edited June 8, 2011 by Mr. Big Dog

[The Dude 206]

The war on drugs is an eternal war that will never be won and that has not prevented a single person that wants to use drugs from doing just that. It has, on the other hand, made a few people very, very rich. It's a colossal fail and will never be anything else. Legalize this ####### and regulate and tax it. The drug cartels will be out of business overnight and not a single person that doesn't want to use drugs will start doing it because we ended this costly failure known as the war on drugs. It's the stupidest thing ever invented. Right up there with the war on terrorism.

Legalize, regulate, and tax all drugs?

[웃 910]

Legalize marijuana, make drunk driving legal (high misdemeanor or felony if you get in an accident or hurt someone), decriminalize everything else.

[Sofiyya 1,687]

Killing people who willfully abuse drugs should be legal. Problem solved.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Legalize, regulate, and tax all drugs?

Sure. The emerging drug of today are prescription drugs. Are we going to declare war on those as well or are we going to keep them legal and regulated? I think you know the answer. Why should this be different for any other drug? Meth and crack, for example, exist for one reason only - the "clean" drugs got too expensive. Why? Because the war on drugs made their distribution more difficult and hence drove up the price. Are we better off with people doing crack and meth than we'd be with people shooting heroin and snorting cocaine? I don't think so. The synthetic drugs are far more devastating then the originals.

The question really isn't whether we can rid society of drugs - we cannot. We don't even attempt to do that. Alcohol and tobacco are drugs and those are perfectly legal even though they each kill and disable many more people than all the other drugs combined. So, what's the obsession with heroin and cocaine and grass? Are you staying away from those drugs because they're illegal? I know I don't. I stay away from them because I have no interest in getting hooked on any such #######. I don't need to government to protect me from them. I am perfectly able to do that myself. As I think are you.

[웃 910]

Killing people who willfully abuse drugs should be legal. Problem solved.

Abusing drugs is fun in moderation.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Killing people who willfully abuse drugs should be legal. Problem solved.

I hear S'pore and China are excellent places to live for folks that want to kill those that make poor choices on drug use.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

Killing people who willfully abuse drugs should be legal. Problem solved.

Why?

And on another note, I think I slipped a decimal on the budget.