Illegal drug classifications are based on politics not science – report

[S.J.B.]

Illegal drug classifications are based on politics not science – report
Karen McVeigh
The Guardian
June 26th, 2019

Illegal drugs including cocaine, heroin and cannabis should be reclassified to reflect a scientific assessment of harm, according to a report by the Global Commission on Drug Policy.

The commission, which includes 14 former heads of states from countries such as Colombia, Mexico, Portugal and New Zealand, said the international classification system underpinning drug control is “biased and inconsistent”.

A “deep-lying imbalance” between controlling substances and allowing access for medicinal purposes had caused “collateral damage”, it said. Such damage included patients in low- and middle-income countries forced to undergo surgery without anaesthetic, to go without essential medicines and to die in unnecessary pain due to lack of opioid pain relief.

Other negative consequences were the spread of infectious diseases, higher mortality and the global prison overcrowding crisis, the report said.

“The international system to classify drugs is at the core of the drug control regime – and unfortunately the core is rotten,” said Ruth Dreifuss, former president of Switzerland and chair of the commission. She called for a “critical review” of the classification system, prioritising the role of the World Health Organization (WHO) and scientific research in setting criteria based on harms and benefits.

Read the full story here.

 

[S.J.B.]

We all know this, of course, but it still needs to be said as most folks haven't thought to question why some drugs are prohibited and others aren't.

 

[Nicomorphinist]

The reason people can be expected to stand for this kind of thing being done and has been done since the first howling about opium starting in the 1870s is that the state of knowledge of pharmacology in the public, just about anywhere, is not very high. Sure, it can be made to look intimidating, but so can astronomy and cosmology and I see some sophisticated opinions and knowledge on that in the hoi polloi, be it in the States, Canada, Europe, Latin America, the Near East, the Pacific Rim . . .

Does anybody suppose there could ever be a pharmacology, and probably general biology and chemistry, populariser on the level of a Carl Sagan or Neil de Grasse Tyson? Would the media even allow such a thing?