I have spoken out on many issues during my career, but there is one that leaders in poorer countries passionately lobby me to campaign on: the prohibition of drugs.
The "war on drugs" is harming the most vulnerable and criminalising poverty. It is not a war on drugs -- despite decades of prohibition, drug production and consumption is on the increase globally -- it is a war on the poor. Prohibition damages people and the planet.
It is also a staggering waste of money. The cost of enforcing the war on drugs is in excess of $100bn (?77bn) a year. This rivals the size of the global aid budget (about $146bn). If redirected, that money could help provide healthcare, education and clean water to people across the world.
Drugs policies make our world a more dangerous place, not a safer one: whether that's by handing immense wealth and power to organised criminals, causing violent policing of poor communities, or ensuring consumers have little idea what they are taking.
On Tuesday, Health Poverty Action launches a report exposing the human stories from the streets of Brazil and the fields of India. Punishing Poverty provides a platform for the voices on the ground behind the overwhelming evidence that current drug policy is felt most sharply by poor communities. It traps people in a cycle of poverty and inequality for generations.
