A New Paradigm On Drugs

http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_29629.shtml  
Latin America - Drugs and Democracy: Toward a Paradigm Shift  
By News Release Feb 11, 2009, 19:23

The Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy will present its conclusions at a press conference to be held at Hotel Intercontinental, on 11 February. Founded by former Presidents Fernando Henrique Cardoso (Brazil), César Gaviria (Colombia) and Ernesto Zedillo (Mexico), integrated by 17 independent members, including the writers Paulo Coelho, Mario Vargas Llosa, Sergio Ramírez and Tomás Eloy Martínez, the Commission assessed the limits and unwanted effects of the repressive policies of “war on drugs” used in Latin America.

The creation of this Commission followed the 10 years review of global drug policies within the United Nations, which began in March 2008 and will be finalized at a ministerial meeting in March 2009 in Vienna, Austria. The Commission’s proposals for more efficient and humane strategies, presented in document Drugs and Democracy: Towards a Paradigm Shift, are based on three main guidelines: 1) treat drug use as a public health issue, 2) reduce consumption through information and prevention actions; 3) focus on the enforcement against organized crime.

The Commission also invites governments and societies to “assess in the light of public health and advanced medical science the convenience of decriminalizing the possession of marijuana for personal consumption.” Ending silence and breaking the taboo that blocks the debate on the drug problem is a precondition for each country to find innovative solutions appropriate to its history and its culture.

For more information on the work of the Commission and its proposals, please visit www.drugsanddemocracy.org . ( http://drugsanddemocracy.org/blog/archives/category/highlights ) 

My note: Did you ever stop to think how insane it is to have so impoverished intellect and imagination that one must conceptualize each and every problem as a "war"? And each "war" needing a "czar"? And each and every war being lost? There is also the economic benefit of money not flowing to drug lords here and overseas.
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