Legalization won't fix world's drugs problem: U.N. official

[neversickanymore]

Legalization won't fix world's drugs problem: U.N. official
Mon Mar 10, 2014
Fredrik Dahl

(Reuters) - Legalization will not solve the world's narcotics problem, the U.N. anti-drugs chief said on Monday, indicating disagreement with a decision by Uruguay to allow the growing, sale and smoking of marijuana.

In a move that will be closely watched by other nations debating drug liberalization, Uruguay's parliament in December approved a bill to legalize and regulate the sale and production of marijuana - the first country to take such a step.

In the United States, Washington and Colorado states recently legalized the sale of cannabis under license, although federal law in the country has not changed.

Yury Fedotov, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said it was the prerogative of member states to decide "what needs to be done" and how they envisage the implementation of relevant international law.

"However, as the head of UNODC, I have to say that legalization is not a solution to the (world's) drug problem," Fedotov told reporters ahead of a major international meeting on the issue in Vienna on March 13-14.

"It is very hard to say that this law (adopted by Uruguay's parliament) is fully in line with legal provisions of the drug control conventions," he said, referring to treaties including the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.

Uruguay's attempt to quell drug trafficking is being followed closely in Latin America, where the legalization of some narcotics is being increasingly seen by regional leaders as a possible way to end the violence spawned by the cocaine trade.

Other countries have decriminalized marijuana possession and the Netherlands allows its sale in coffee shops, but Uruguay will be the first nation to legalize the whole chain from growing the plant to buying and selling its leaves.

Uruguay's new marijuana laws are scheduled to take effect in April. Citizens will be allowed to grow up to six plants a year in their homes and will be able to buy up to 40 grams (1.4 ounces) a month at pharmacies licensed by the state.

In Mexico, left-wing senators last month presented an initiative to legalize medical marijuana, saying a new approach was needed to speed up drug liberalization and help end a cycle of cartel violence that has killed tens of thousands.


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No but it would end the worlds drug war problems, which are HUGE and which are way worse than its narcotics problems. Then we can use all the wasted drug war money and added revenue from a regulated approach to develop and implement things that can address the issues and help the world.

 

[_DankOpiAmp_]

There is no solution to the world's drug problem. That is like trying to solve the world's death problem. All we can do is minimize harm and addiction because eliminating it is not possible. Just like we can't make people immortal. This Fedotov guy should be raped. As if we haven't learned anything since 1961.

It is hilarious since Russia's population is now being ravaged by heroin and vodka.

 

[MindlessBilly]

So he claims legalization wont solve the problem yet fails to offer an alternative solution or provide any evidence as to why it wont work? The only concern raised is about how Uruguay's law may not line up with their own? From my understanding the only fear the UN has about such things is their loss of power on a world scale & ability to dictate what other countries can & cant do.

 

[TouchN' Stuff Blvd]

Good for them. The scoldings any country receives from the UN for legalizing or liberalizing drug policy come off as a little harder to take seriously these days given all the rethinking around cannabis policy that has been happening in the US, the former model for the western world on that stuff. I hope more countries in Latin America and else follow suit quickly so the UN has to decide to change their policy in order to preserve the image of ordering the world around.

 

[weekend addiction]

It's funny these people are still willing to make public statements considering how fucking stupid they look every time they do so.

 

[phr]

It's funny these people are still willing to make public statements considering how fucking stupid they look every time they do so.

Whether they look stupid or not depends on what point of view you see their rhetoric from. If you're looking at such statements from a "how to solve the drugs problem," yeah, they sound foolish and naive.

That is an ignorant viewpoint to take.

These officials are nothing more than lobbyists for their industries, the industries that benefit from continued prohibition. They're not truly concerned with solving a problem that even someone doing 2 hours worth of research realizes it's unsolvable.