Decriminalisation Comes to Davos

Intravenous drug users are the last in line to get support from Pakistan's government-run AIDS programme. Credit: Fahim Siddiqi/IPSBy Samuel OakfordUNITED NATIONS, Jan 24 2014 (IPS) In the exclusive, rarified air of Davos, Thursday’s attendees at the World Economic Forum shared in a whiff of decriminalisation at a panel on drug policy in the Swiss alpine city that included former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, Texas Governor Rick Perry and the head of Human Rights Watch, Ken Roth. “I believe that drugs have destroyed many people, but wrong governmental policies have destroyed many more,” said Annan.  ”When we realised [alcohol] prohibition wasn’t working, we had the courage to change it.”"How can I tell a farmer with half a hectare growing marijuana he will go to jail if in the [U.S.] states of Washington and Colorado it's legal?" -- Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos Santos echoed a common theme, complaining of half-baked policies and lip service paid to drug reforms. Colombia, for many years Washington’s staunchest ally in the so-called war on drugs, has recently made an about-face, joining much of Latin America in questioning the increasingly violent consequences of prohibition. Perry served as a foil for the other three panelists, though he agreed that U.S. states had the right to decide on policies independently from the federal government. “I am not for legalisation of drugs,”...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Tags: Crime & Justice Economy & Trade Featured Food & Agriculture Global Geopolitics Headlines Health Poverty & MDGs TerraViva United Nations World decriminalisation drug policy Human Rights Watch (HRW) World Economic Forum Source Type: news