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Did The United Nations Just Call For The Decriminalization Of All Drugs?
Submitted by Carey Welder via TheAntiMedia.org,
News circulated Monday morning that the United Nations had officially called for the decriminalization of all drugs in a brief, two-page report. Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin, hinted on Sunday that the announcement would be made, but by Monday morning, the U.N. announced it had no such intention and that the document merely reflected the author’s opinion. Even so, the BBC and Branson himself suggest the document was withdrawn following resistance from at least one country.
As Richard Branson wrote in a blog post before the official release of the report:
“In an as-yet unreleased statement circulated to the BBC, myself and others, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which has shaped much of global drug policy for decades, call on governments around the world to decriminalise drug use and possession for personal consumption for all drugs.”
The report was to be released at an international harm reduction conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Branson continued:
“It’s exciting that the UNODC has now unequivocally stated that criminalisation is harmful, unnecessary and disproportionate, echoing concerns about the immense human and economic costs of current drug policies voiced earlier by UNAIDS, the World Health Organisation, UNDP, The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Women, Kofi Annan and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.”
However, Branson, a long-time opponent of the Drug War, wrote that as he drafted his blog post, the briefing had already drawn harsh opposition. “But as I’m writing this,” he said, “I am hearing that at least one government is putting an inordinate amount of pressure on the UNODC.”
He concluded:
“Let us hope the UNODC, a global organisation that is part of the UN and supposed to do what is right for the people of the world, does not do a remarkable volte-face at the last possible moment and bow to pressure by not going ahead with this important move.”
By Monday, the U.N. had disputed Branson’s announcement of the document. “The briefing paper on decriminalisation mentioned in many of today’s media reports, and intended for dissemination and discussion at a conference in Kuala Lumpur, is neither a final nor formal document … and cannot be read as a statement of UNODC policy,” a spokesperson announced.
As the Guardian summarized:
“United Nations sources stressed that the briefing paper did not mark a major change in UN policy. They pointed out that such a historic shift would not have been announced at another organisation’s conference and would have had to gone through its policymaking process first.”
Regardless, the disputed two-page document was penned by Dr. Monica Beg, who chairs the HIV/AIDs section of the UNODC. She noted multiple consequences of the continued War on Drugs, including excessive imprisonment. “[W]orldwide, millions of people are imprisoned for minor, non-violent drug offences,” she wrote, suggesting that “arrest and incarceration are disproportionate measures.“
While the document acknowledges that governments have a duty under international law to reduce the supply and trade of drugs, it also affirms that these governments are responsible for adhering to human rights’ obligations. The document concludes that the U.N. will not force member states to criminalize drug possession and use on a personal scale. Rather, it suggests that “Member states should consider the implementation of measures to promote the right to health and to reduce prison overcrowding, including by decriminalizing drug use and possession for personal use.”
This type of policy has seen success in Portugal, where drugs were decriminalized in 2001 and rates of use decreased. At least one town in Massachusetts has opted to treat addiction to heroin rather than prosecute it.
The paper suggests several strategies like these, including investing in drug-prevention programs and treatment for drug dependency. It makes clear that it advocates decriminalization, in part, “as a key element of the HIV response among people who use drugs.”
In spite of the groundbreaking implications of the two-page document, the U.N. maintains the document was meant only as a suggestion (the BBC notes that the UNODC has been under increased pressure to take a stance). The language of the conclusion implies the document was a suggestion, considering it urges that member countries “should consider” decriminalization.
However, the text of the document, printed on official agency stationery, also says the report “clarifies the position of UNODC to inform country responses to promote a health and human rights approach to drug policy,” making the UNODC’s true intentions difficult to decipher.
Denials from the U.N. were swift and vehement. Official statements also denied Branson’s claims that at least one member nation pushed back against the recommendations:
“[The document] remains under review and UNODC regrets that, on this occasion, there has been an unfortunate misunderstanding about the nature and intent of this briefing paper. UNODC emphatically denies reports that there has been pressure on UNODC to withdraw the document. But it is not possible to withdraw what is not yet ready,” an official U.N. response said.
Regardless of whether or not the document was intended to be one person’s suggestion or an officially proposed policy — or whether countries are exerting undue pressure on the U.N. following its release — the mere suggestion of decriminalizing drugs, in and of itself, reflects the changing landscape of drug prohibition.
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This should certainly help the U.S. MIC with the close nurturing of the those multi-billion dollar poppy fields in Afghanistan that were almost completely eradicated in 2001 before the U.S. invasion?...
You know the ones that are adding roughly 5 million new addicts a year to the World and are the shadow money maker for the petrodollar that now can be considered a "manufacturing job" to the uniforms that oversee it!
I see the MIC one day putting this under the "Golden Arches"...
"Over 1 billion addicted"!
Makes ya proud to be from Amurika!!!
Hmm, argue with this, then...
Good. I'm going to need to be stoned, buzzed, blitzed, roided, bombed, higher than a kite and sloshed to the gills to watch this shitshow any longer...
Criminalizaqtion of drugs drives crime in our cities, creates great wealth for the criminals who supply drugs at considerable risk, drives the need for larger government and more police to restrain drug sales and use, and glamourize all of this through movies and song.
Use of drugs and associated crime would be dramatically reduced if drugs were freely available to those who use it. Cost would be little or nothing for the users. Hence, no need for crime to support the habbit. Glamour would fade and the country could begin to mount meaningful drug education and rehabilitation programs. Drug cartels would need to seek another line of work because there would be no profit in supplying drugs.
Courageous leadership is badly needed from our politicians. Removing drug associated crime from our cities would save tremendous treasure and suffering. It is easy to be part of the drug war, but it has been a perennial looser.
L.E.A.P.
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
"War(s) against Drug Users..." going on for over 80 years, but victory will be had any day now...(crickets)
1. The CIA would just have a private contractor for opium and other but still take the profits.
2. Making drugs legal will not produce more addicts..ie: its legal, anyone on ZH gonna do heroin now that it's legal? Of course not.
3. Lazy has been around for centuries..pot or no pot, there would still be those in mom's basement playing video.
4. Since black market drugs are on most street corners what's the difference..
5. Only the private run prisons would lose money, but we save tax dollars..from what II read, each inmate costs 30k a year...ouch
6. Marijuana and hemp should have been legalized decades ago.
7. More people die of pharma drug..
8. those who promote abortion and women's right to decide what they do to their own body but a person can't take a hit off an opium pipe?
9. An option to add..sell to a minor and mandatory 10 years in prison..commit a crime while on a hard drug and double the sentence of the original crime.
OK then: coast for president 2016...
Teh usual suspects will be the only opposition to this, rothschilds, rockerfellers and warburgs whom control and profit from the illegal drug trade, pay attention to whom says what, to see who they "work for" or not.
Their time is up bitches.
Do not also forget they make bank on the back side as well with the private prison system, law enforcement weapons sales and so forth.
How about lifting the patents on pharmaceuticals as well? No more "controlled" substances. It's the other side of the supposed drug war.
Fuck the UN. One war I am willing to fight. Blow that colostomy bag in NYC up.
I couldn't agree more, but legalization of drugs should be a positive to society.
Is the Pope Christian?
Observing his behaviour and reading his words, I'd say not likely.
If by "Christian" you mean "Socialist" then yes....
That would neuter the police state, can't have that going on. Who would they steal from?
It is a requirement for baning cash.
The state (politicians) will get his cut then( taxes+bribes)
Big pharma will distribute it.
Everyody wins, except the peons.
So it is more Huxley than Orwell right now. Soma it is!!!!
I say do decriminalize all drugs, including sniffing glue and gasoline vapors. Once all drugs are legal, they immediately become safer to use. Heck, herion can become organic and sold at your local hagee mart, as you fill up. I can jut see it. Airpilots on heroin flying as they have never done before. Merrywanny users comng up with new and improved theories of relativity and quantum physics. And finally, politicians on crack, imposing the best laws ever written in human hstory. Life will be good. Heck, all crooks will return everything they have stolen!
Smoke another one, brah!
Boy, when the brains were passed about, you were decidedly hiding under a tub!
The Drug War turned our beloved nation into a cesspool of violence, murder and corruption. Welfare just ensures a steady supply of ruthless soldiers willing to kill and die for more drug turf. Let’s keep both American Institutions going full stream ahead!
Bernie Sanders: A bong in every bathroom! Or some pot in every chicken
I am reposting this in the same thread because it is that important.
crazytechnician
It's gonna happen - this is just another step so they can get rid of paper cash - to do that the black markets will have to be shut down first , that means decriminalising drugs so people can buy them with plastic and bitcoin.As a Northern California coast resident for 45 plus years now, I have been saying (and was quoted a long time ago): "The prohibition against marihuana is the most sucessful price-support program the US government has every conducted."
I mean, around here, weed is really, really easy to grow, and in the present half-assed legalization sort of environment, greed is running rampant in the Emerald Triangle - I fly recreationally a lot local and low and slow, and the amount of greenhouses out there seems to double every fucking year the last four years = one greenhouse becomes two becomes four - like that. Locals are divided - half of them are praying for legalization to end the current nightmares of 'trimimmagrants" and other abberations and crime increase, and the other half fear decriminalization, cause it will really, really fuck up the price per pound.
Meanwhile, the place is awash in cash. For those that think governments are agin decrim, think again - they are pissed they are not getting their cut. Of course they want dope legal, in order to tax the shit out of it - see tobacco, one of the most addictive and bad for you dopes around. And then there is alcohol...
I fly recreationally alot too. Also slow and low. But I also get the munchees too often that I run out of Doritos and Cheese Doodles.
The "THC/CBD Chia Pet", is on everyone's Christmas list.
Is the Earth about to be CRATERED? um, like man, what was datt? Wow, we're a bug hitting the proverbial windshield.
Some people will be controlled with drugs, but everybody will be controlled by tv. Where drugs interfere with cabal programming, drugs will be illegal. Abortions for everybody!
Its the carbon, man.
UN = tits on a bull.
I have two thoughts on world wide drug use.
People should be free exercise their own minds when it comes to drug use. Thus make it legal, and control it with taxes, quality oversight, and use all profits for education and treatment. It costs pennies to treat an addict, compared to putting him in jail for 20 years!
So many people are paid such high amounts of money to fight the drug wars, that they will never allow the war to be stopped. 100,000's of highly paid government and private sector employees will lose jobs.
For all you "I hate big business/government" take a look at what is happening to the pot legalization states. It is the same pattern as alcohol. Big, well financed companies with lots of expertise and resources are starting to dominate.
http://www.amazon.com/Going-Pot-Legalize-Marijuana-Harming/dp/1455560731...
Wow, it sounded so good, legalize pot, the anarchists and libertarians dream.
Wait, what?
So predictable, so frustrating.
sschu
EXACTLY why I never wanted it decriminalized.
I wanted against the law with a $10 fine that was never enforced.
So that it would NEVER appear on billboards paid for by Phillip Morris et al.
With THEM profiting
So where is Phillip Morris's mega-sized MJ growing facility?
Ohio?
You have tobacco and marijuana confused because you have not done the research.. I can grow most anything but after researching tobacco growing...forget about it...its way difficult...but I am allowed 4 mj plants and it was very easy to grow...so many people in Oregon are growing their own it would boggle your mind...don't like Morris phyllips? Then grow your own...its as easy as growing a tomato plant...in fact, many people such as myself have too much and just give a lot of it away for free..all drugs need to be legalized completely...friggin period...I have too much research on the subject to debate you...
Your info is not relevant...you have not enough info on big picture...only have my tablet todày and hard to type but will explain later when I get to my regular keyboard
If you think this rush is harming america open your Fuc**ng eyes amurica is outright destroyed.
There is no hope for amurica unless ratical leaders, real Leaders stand up in every community and take it back from the gangs, drug dealers, Banksters, corrupt politicians and LEO's that kill with impunity.
GMO?
As i sit here, a teeny bit zoned on 15 mg of Oxycodone pain managment, I applaud the efforts of all who seek to decriminialize the trafficking in drugs upon which Big Pharma has a monopoly, and the Scrip pads that make it legal, for them and no one else, talk about traffic.
After three weeks of scripted pain management, I am contemplating the liver damage, the minimal amount of pain reduction that actually occurs and which only lasts a few hours, if that, and most of all, why can't there by now be safe pain control drugs that do not result in addicition, career ending job losses, and prison sentences that put murderers sooner back on the streets?
With the tens of trillions of taxpayer funded drug control policies, already extant, is there one other government program that even remotely approaches the black hole of drug criminalization law, the Offense Department, Bridges, highways, and roads, the U.S. Congress, Supreme Court, and POTUS notwithstanding?
the war on drugs is a war on personal freedom
DEMONCRACY AHEAD
De-Evolution of humankind
UN is only a pet of Satan America, a parrot
Drugs will destroy brain & soul
Homosexuality will cause demon possession
As is CabalCock$uckerObama