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PoliticsMPs, MEPs, Peers, Civil servants, Parliamentary committees, US and World politics. UK MPs David Cameron MP Conservative, leader of the parliamentary party Former MPs Tony Banks Labour, former MP and minister for sport Peers Lord Richard Labour UK MEPs Nick Clegg MEP European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party Civil Servants Julian Critchley -former director of the UK Anti-Drug Coordination Unit in the Cabinet Office Parliamentary Committees Home Affairs Select Committee (2002)The European Parliament Civil Liberties Committee (1997) US Politicians Jimmy Carter former US President European politicians Jorge Sampiaio President of Portugal Latin America Jorge Battle President of Uruguay (elected March 2000) Dr E.K. Rodrigo former drugs tsar of Sri Lanka UK MPsDavid Cameron MP Conservative party leader As a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee inquiry into drug misuse in 2002 - voted in favour of recommendation 24: "24. We recommend that the Government initiates a discussion within the Commission on Narcotic Drugs of alternative ways—including the possibility of legalisation and regulation—to tackle the global drugs dilemma (paragraph 267)." Source:http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200102/cmselect/cmhaff/318/31814.htm Also recently quoted in the Independent: "Politicians attempt to appeal to the lowest common denominator by posturing with tough policies and calling for crackdown after crackdown. Drugs policy has been failing for decades." Source:'Tory contender calls for more liberal drug laws' The Independent 07.09.05
Frank Cook MP Labour
Ann Cryer MP Labour Signed Appeal for an Anti-prohibitionist Reform of Drug Laws
Janet Dean MP Labour As a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee inquiry into drug misuse in 2002 - voted in favour of recommendation 24: "24. We recommend that the Government initiates a discussion within the Commission on Narcotic Drugs of alternative ways—including the possibility of legalisation and regulation—to tackle the global drugs dilemma (paragraph 267)." Source:http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200102/cmselect/cmhaff/318/31814.htm
Alun Duncan MP Conservative, former cabinet member "The only completely effective way to ameliorate the drug problem, and especially the crime which results from it, is to bring the industry into the open by legalising the distribution and consumption of all dangerous drugs, or at the very least by decriminalising their consumption." Source: Alun Duncan, chapter ‘The Legalisation of Drugs' in ‘Saturn's Children'. Read the complete chapter here.
Bill Etherington MP Labour
Paul Flynn MP Labour “No one is asking for some free-for-all for drugs. I want drugs to be controlled and regulated, but we do not want to allow what has happened over the past thirty years to continue, whereby, in an illegal market, criminals – irresponsible people – sell poisoned drugs that kill young people. We want to say to those irresponsible people that we will control them, take their market away and not allow young people to be their victims any more. I believe that the experience of Switzerland and the Netherlands, and now of other countries, is that the only way to do that effectively is to collapse the market by replacing it with one that can be regulated, licensed and controlled.” Signed Kofi Annan Letter
Dr Ian Gibson MP Labour
Brian Iddon MP Labour "I do not believe prohibition of drugs works. I am talking about all drugs. I would rather we treated people who use drugs as sick rather than put them in jail." Source: Evening Standard Fri, 12 Jul 2002 Signed Kofi Annan letter
Dr Lynne Jones MP Labour Signed Angel declaration Tessa Jowell MP Labour …” we can prohibit, regulate or leave it to the market. Prohibition does not work - it drives the activity underground…” “Only ideological extremists favour a free-for-all where only the laws of the market hold sway. So the third option is regulation - and regulation with as much emphasis on the quality of the debate as the policy outcome. 'Better regulation' has to mean government engaging people in the decisions that affect their lives and doing so in new and better ways”. Source: 'Grown up politics for an adult world' The Guardian 21.11.04
"On the specific issue of cannabis the Liberal Democrats would break the link between cannabis use and organised crime by...In the longer term, seeking to put the supply of cannabis on a legal regulated basis, subject to securing necessary renegotiation of the UN Conventions"
Chris Mullin MP Labour Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee inquiry into drug misuse in 2002 - included recommendation 24: "24. We recommend that the Government initiates a discussion within the Commission on Narcotic Drugs of alternative ways—including the possibility of legalisation and regulation—to tackle the global drugs dilemma (paragraph 267)." Source:http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200102/cmselect/cmhaff/318/31814.htm
Bridget Prentice MP Labour As a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee inquiry into drug misuse in 2002 - voted in favour of recommendation 24: "24. We recommend that the Government initiates a discussion within the Commission on Narcotic Drugs of alternative ways—including the possibility of legalisation and regulation—to tackle the global drugs dilemma (paragraph 267)." Source:http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200102/cmselect/cmhaff/318/31814.htm
Gwyn Prosser MP Labour As a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee inquiry into drug misuse in 2002 - voted in favour of recommendation 24: "24. We recommend that the Government initiates a discussion within the Commission on Narcotic Drugs of alternative ways—including the possibility of legalisation and regulation—to tackle the global drugs dilemma (paragraph 267)." Source:http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200102/cmselect/cmhaff/318/31814.htm John Reid MP Labour “Prohibition doesn’t work, as the US found out many years ago.” Source: Jeremy Vine programme, BBC Radio 2, 11.11.04
Clare Short MP Labour, former Cabinet Minister "I'm not saying that it is a good thing to take hard drugs... But what I am saying is that present policies are not working and the drug problem is growing and is a major part of Britain's crime problem." "We need to look at the effects and how we are dealing with it." Hard drugs should be supplied free on the NHS to help sever the link between addiction and crime, says former cabinet minister Clare Short. She said the present policy was not working and 67% of crime was linked to drugs. The former international development secretary, who resigned in protest following the war in Iraq, said a rethink was needed.Source: BBC News 8 Nov 2003
Alan Simpson MP Labour
Marsha Singh MP Labour As a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee inquiry into drug misuse in 2002 - voted in favour of recommendation 24: "24. We recommend that the Government initiates a discussion within the Commission on Narcotic Drugs of alternative ways—including the possibility of legalisation and regulation—to tackle the global drugs dilemma (paragraph 267)." Source:http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200102/cmselect/cmhaff/318/31814.htm
Dr Rudi Vis MP Labour
Bob Russell MP Labour As a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee inquiry into drug misuse in 2002 - voted in favour of recommendation 24: "24. We recommend that the Government initiates a discussion within the Commission on Narcotic Drugs of alternative ways—including the possibility of legalisation and regulation—to tackle the global drugs dilemma (paragraph 267)." Source:http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200102/cmselect/cmhaff/318/31814.htm
Simon Hughes MP Liberal Democrat “I do not advocate taking drugs; most people are better off without drugs, and using natural, not artificial remedies. Changing the law does not mean advocating drugs use or making drugs more acceptable, beneficial or preferable. We should divide society into three groups. We should treat recreational drug users as normal people who use such drugs in the same way as alcohol or tobacco, which are also used, for better or worse, as recreational drugs. We should treat addicts as victims because they need help. That is clear from talking to people who have been to prison for a drug-related crime and have benefited from a regime that has helped them to deal with their problem. The pushers, dealers, profiteers and traffickers are criminals. Like hon. Members from other parties, I hope that, at the end of the review, we will distinguish between those who should be regarded as criminal and those who should not. For example, the personal use of recreational drugs should not be criminal—it is different from dealing in serious drugs, an activity that should be criminal. We must categorise those activities differently.” “I accept that international conventions require trafficking in narcotic drugs to be regarded as an offence. We cannot alter that unilaterally; we have to work within that parameter. However, the Portuguese have recently decriminalised possession of all drugs. It is therefore possible, even within the international parameters, to treat possession, the personal production of drugs such as cannabis, which can be grown, and social, non-commercial supply differently from commercial supply. The Portuguese have only recently made their decision, and we therefore do not know the result. However, I hope that we will consider policies that are intellectually and practically coherent.” Source: Hansard
Lembit Opik MP Liberal Democrat Signed Appeal for an Anti-prohibitionist Reform of Drug Laws Peter Lilley MP Conservative, former cabinet member “Unless and until we are prepared to move from reclassification to providing legal outlets, we will not break the link between the suppliers of hard drugs and the suppliers of soft drugs. We will continue to drive soft-drug users into the hands of hard-drug pushers, and we will not achieve the advantage of breaking the link, restoring respect for the law and enabling a health warning to be put on a legally available product and displayed in outlets in which the product is available. Source: Hansard 29.10.03 http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmhansrd/cm031029/debtext/31029-10.htm
Adam Price MP Plaid Cymru Signed Angel Declaration
Tom Watson MP Labour As a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee inquiry into drug misuse in 2002 - voted in favour of recommendation 24: "24. We recommend that the Government initiates a discussion within the Commission on Narcotic Drugs of alternative ways—including the possibility of legalisation and regulation—to tackle the global drugs dilemma (paragraph 267)." Source:http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200102/cmselect/cmhaff/318/31814.htm
David Winnick MP Labour As a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee inquiry into drug misuse in 2002 - voted in favour of recommendation 24: "24. We recommend that the Government initiates a discussion within the Commission on Narcotic Drugs of alternative ways—including the possibility of legalisation and regulation—to tackle the global drugs dilemma (paragraph 267)." Source:http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200102/cmselect/cmhaff/318/31814.htm
Former MPsTony Banks former minister for sport “Full legalisation (of all drugs) would be a boon to those regions where coca is a valuable crop and where western demand is reducing certain countries to a state of criminal anarchy. In this country and in the US, the greatest drug abuse tends to occur among the most economically and socially deprived groups. Greater resources to clear up bad housing and provide employment would, in the long run, have a far more profound impact on drug abuse than heavier policing.” Source: ‘High Time to Legalise Pot' - Tribune 15.0.93
“The film Some Like It Hot has a scene when one Chicago gang is gunned down by another. The film is a comedy, drawing humour from the absurdity of the years of prohibition in the US, when alcohol was made illegal. Of course this did not stop drinking, it merely pushed it underground. The bar was replaced with the speakeasy. The legitimate supplier of booze was replaced by the gangster. A whole new criminal element was added to society that not only corroded the drink business, but also brought intimidation, violence and corruption into previously clean activities, for example in the rise of protection rackets. Today we laugh at films that portray that era, while ignoring the reality of such a situation existing and growing within our own society. Drugs in this country are almost more freely available than alcohol: their supply is not constrained by licensing laws, large numbers of people smoke marijuana, particularly teenagers and young people, and a lot also take ecstasy and cocaine. They are not criminals; they are people you know. They are people who are likely to be sitting next to you at work, or living in your homes. But all these people are being brought into almost daily contact with organised crime. Isn't this a most foolish situation? Please can we begin to hear some good sense from No 10 and the Home Office, and let's start looking at how drugs can be legalised and our society can be decriminalised. Let's recognise reality and start to reduce the numbers who are cluttering up our prisons. Let's start selling drugs through outlets such as off-licences, where the likelihood of dealing with someone holding a gun is virtually zero, unlike the street traders of today. Let's admit that we are getting it wrong, by allowing our fear and prejudice against certain drugs to drive us to pursue wrongheaded policies which only produce damaging social results. “ Source: quoted from “Better drugs laws will cut gun crime -
"We have tried the [cannabis] prohibition route for 30 years and it obviously, patently isn't working." Source: BBC News July 17, 2001 “Those well-known organs of licentiousness, the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph, do not think cannabis is a great evil facing society. Politics is the only arena where we hear old-style biblical denunciations of any drug use. While this is pleasantly nostalgic for me, with my non-conformist Welsh background, where it was drummed into me that we were not on this earth to enjoy ourselves, it is no way to deal with a serious issue." “The recent British Crime Survey figures on drug use make it clear the Government's drug policies are not working. The Drug Tsar has left office after three years of making no impact on the use of drugs in this country. Nowhere in Government circles have I found anyone willing, whatever the public position, to privately to argue the present policy is successful.” Source: press briefing on cannabis legalisation bill from Jon Owen Jones 1 8.10.01 Michael Portollo former Conservative MP and Cabinet Minister During the Conservative leadership contest, June 2001: “Many people in this country now have a view on the legalisation of cannabis, they either have personal experience or experience in their families, and they must think it very extraordinary that the political class is not prepared to debate this issue.”
PeersLord Richard Labour "Is there not an increasing case to be made for decriminalising at least some drugs and for treating drug users medically rather than through the criminal justice system?"Source: TheyWorkForYou.com (16.01.07)
Lord Jenkins former home secretary (Labour 1965-1967) Lord Baker former home secretary (Tory 1990-1992) Extract from: the Sunday Times 08.07.01: “PEERS SUPPORT THE REFORM OF CANNABIS LAW Source: the Sunday Times 08.07.01
Lord Bingham of Cornhill Former Lord Chief Justice ‘One of Britain's most senior law lords surprised drug campaigners yesterday by saying it would be "stupid" to oppose the legalisation of marijuana. Lord Bingham of Cornhill, a former Lord Chief Justice, said bluntly in an interview for Spectator magazine that prohibiting the drug was not working. Asked by the magazine's editor, Boris Johnson, whether cannabis should be legalised, the law lord replied: "Absolutely. It is stupid having a law which isn't doing what it is there for ... Everybody thinks our system is becoming soft and wimpish. In point of fact, it is one of the most punitive systems in the world." Source: Marie Woolf, The Independent, 24.05.02 (quoting from interview in The Spectator magazine)
Lord Carlisle of Bucklow“No one can decriminalise or legalise the use of cannabis without realising that, in doing so, he will be bound to decriminalise or legalise the supply of cannabis. We cannot make it an offence to supply a person with goods that he is free to use. Unless we sort out the supply before we consider how to deal with decriminalisation, my worry is that we will simply spread the drug dealer's power and influence to start young people on cannabis and then work them through to ecstasy, heroin and the other much more dangerous and addictive drugs.” Source: Hansard 25.03.02
Lord Cobbold Current policies, it is estimated, cost this country more than £10 billion a year, whereas if drugs were decriminalised, controlled and taxed, as is the case with alcohol and tobacco, the Exchequer would have the tax revenue to pay for harm reduction and treatment programmes and to finance all-important publicity campaigns against drug misuse. Abraham Lincoln said in 1840: "Prohibition goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control man's appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes". Those addicted to drugs, like those addicted to alcohol, are sick. They are not basically criminals. They become criminals only when they steal or cause damage or injury to others. They need treatment, not prison sentences. Sadly, that is heresy in official circles and, as we know, our Government are intent on creating the new serious organised crime agency to conduct the next round in the war on drugs. The hope that I wish to express is that, alongside this new initiative—in case, like its predecessors, it turns out to be a failure—the Government will instigate an open-minded, global debate on the merits and demerits of prohibition. In that context I recommend that they, and all noble Lords, study an excellent and balanced recent report produced by Transform Drug Policy Foundation, entitled After the War on Drugs—Options for Control. That report offers no miracle cures, but it examines the global situation and the practical problems and comes up with a road map for reform. To sum up, therefore, I believe that we must stand up for the protection of personal liberty and human rights in the war against international terrorism and domestic anti-social behaviour and, in the case of the drugs problem, we should support a global reassessment of the merits of prohibition". Source: Hansard 29 Nov 2004 : Column 307. To read the full debate click here. Lord Haskins Labour ‘But it was the peer's remarks about drugs that caused most surprise. "The state perseveres with some moral regulations which are mainly symbolic and largely ineffective in protecting the young, such as rules against under-age selling of tobacco, drink and lottery tickets, and total bans on drug selling," he said. "Such regulations are, if anything, counterproductive. The excitement of breaking them becomes a stimulant." Source: Matt Wells, “legalise cannabis, says labour adviser”., The Guardian 05.07.00
Lord Mancroft Conservative “What is the conclusion? Present policies are not delivering. Prohibition has not reduced or eliminated drug use and has created a massive black market and all the associated crime. Only the Government fail to recognise that. Other European countries, the British media, and public opinion increasingly believe that. The Government are still trying to use the criminal justice system as the primary tool to solve the health and social problem. However, we can agree about many things. All drugs are bad and we ought to reduce them. The one way that one does not deal with something that is dangerous and bad is to hand it lock stock and barrel to organised crime. That is what the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 does. The problem is not prohibition, the problem is the failure of prohibition. The only way that one can control a dangerous commodity or any commodity is to bring it within the law. We need to repeal the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and replace it with a better and more appropriate tool that allows us to control the market in those incredibly dangerous commodities. At that stage we can remove the profit, remove the crime and devote all of our resources and energies to providing better treatment and real prevention. At the moment we are not doing that, and we shall not if the Government continue down their present path.” Source: Hansard, House of Lords Debate 11.06.03 http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200203/ldhansrd/vo030611/text/30611-09.htm "Increasingly, the UK media, and ordinary people up and down the country, realise that government drug policies are not only failing, but are actually making a bad situation worse. Transform is leading the debate for more realistic and effective policies, both to reduce drug related crime, and to protect our children from its consequences." Source: Transform annual report 2002-3 Lord McCluskey former judge of the Scottish High Court "If people are addicted to heroin, give them heroin. I'm not suggesting you sell it at newsagents, but if you were to offer it to addicts in a medically controlled setting, there would be no criminal market”. Source: 'Heroin must be legalised, says former Judge' The Scotsman 13.09.05
Lord Rea Labour "To make a serious impact on the increasing role that prohibited drugs play in swelling our prison population, a more radical drugs policy is required. The problem is not going away; in fact it is growing, despite the £1 billion-plus spent on enforcement of our drug laws.It is often said that decriminalising all drug use would lead to an increase in consumption. That is not necessarily so. It is possible to regulate the supply of legal substances—tobacco and alcohol come to mind—and legalised drugs could be more heavily controlled than those two substances, which are, incidentally, much more harmful than drugs. There should be no advertising; it should be banned from the outset. This is not the occasion on which to discuss the details of a licensed regulated drugs policy, but the advances of such a regime, were it to be successfully instituted, must be considered. There would be a dramatic decrease in crime at all levels; there would be relief for the criminal justice system and a steady reduction in the prison population; and billions of pounds of expenditure on the ineffective enforcement of drug prohibition could be saved. There would be an opportunity to tax the drug market, and there would be improved public health and a reduction of the harm caused by drug use, particularly the use of the impure drugs supplied by the criminal fraternity. HIV and hepatitis, spread through the use of shared needles, would become much less common. Lifting the threat of criminalisation would restore human rights and dignity to the marginalised and disadvantaged. The restabilisation of drug producer and transit countries is another important gain that might be achieved. The Economist said in an editorial that legally regulated drug markets were a pre-condition of any hope of a return to stability in those regions—countries such as Colombia, Afghanistan, Burma and Jamaica. The new policy would have to be brought in gradually. In order for it to be effective, international moves would have to be taken. The United Nations drugs policy, which is staunchly prohibitionist, would need to be revised. All that will take time, but I predict that, in 20 years or so, it will be seen as the only logical way forward. The war on drugs, as fought at present, has been comprehensively lost. It is playing havoc with criminal justice systems throughout the world, something that can be seen not least in our bulging prison population". Source: Hansard 8th Dec 2004. To read the whole debate click here.
"Prohibition is supposed to restrict supply, but clearly it does not. It benefits only the criminal gangs which dominate the trade. Common sense suggest to me at least that it would be more sensible to treat drugs in the same way as we treat alcohol and tobacco. Supply would be regulated and subject to tax and, very importantly, to quality control. Tax revenues could be applied to healthcare and educational campaigns on the dangers of drug use. The laws which already operate in the sphere of alcohol abuse could be extended easily to cover drug abuse". Source: Hansard 11th June 2003. To read the rest of the debate click here.
Baroness Tonge Liberal Democrat “The War on Drugs has done nothing to stop the crime associated with drug taking, which is the real problem. Cannabis should be legalised whilst we are waiting for a proper debate on hard drugs and I welcome Transforms' important contribution to this process." Source: Transform
Baroness Walmsley Liberal Democrat “I also associate myself with most of the remarks of the noble Lords, Lord Rea, Lord Mancroft and Lord Best.”(see above) “The fundamental problem is the collision between the dramatic rise in the use of drugs and a policy that prohibits them. I say to the noble Lord, Lord Alton, that drug users impinge on the rights of other people only when they steal, and they have to do that only because of prohibition.” Source: Hansard, House of Lords Debate 11.06.03 http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200203/ldhansrd/vo030611/text/30611-09.htm
UK Members of the European Paliament (MEPs)Nick Clegg MEP European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party Signed Appeal for an Anti-prohibitionist Reform of Drug Laws
Chris Davies MEP Liberal Democrat MEP for the North West “I still support the establishment of a Royal Commission but I now believe that its terms of reference should be very different. Accepting that prohibition has failed to meet the objectives desired, it should advise instead on the practicalities of legalising the sale of drugs with a view to reducing harm and avoiding giving encouragement to their use.” Source: Chris Davies “Legalise all drugs now” The Liberator (Lib-Dem party publication) Sept 2001. Signed Angel Declaration
Andrew Duff MEP European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party Signed Appeal for an Anti-prohibitionist Reform of Drug Laws Ian Hudghton MEP Greens/European Free Alliance Signed Appeal for an Anti-prohibitionist Reform of Drug Laws
Sarah Ludford MEP European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party Signed Appeal for an Anti-prohibitionist Reform of Drug Laws
Jan Lambert MEP Greens/European Free Alliance Signed Appeal for an Anti-prohibitionist Reform of Drug Laws
Caroline Lucas MEP Greens/European Free Alliance Signed Appeal for an Anti-prohibitionist Reform of Drug Laws
Prof Sir Niel MacCormick MEP Greens/European Free Alliance Signed Appeal for an Anti-prohibitionist Reform of Drug Laws
Eurig Wyn MEP Greens/European Free Alliance Signed Appeal for an Anti-prohibitionist Reform of Drug Laws
Civil ServantsJulian Critchley -Former director of the UK Anti-Drug Coordination Unit in the Cabinet Office "I joined the unit more or less agnostic on drugs policy, being personally opposed to drug use, but open-minded about the best way to deal with the problem…However, during my time in the unit, as I saw more and more evidence of 'what works', to quote New Labour's mantra of the time, it became apparent to me that ... enforcement and supply-side interventions were largely pointless. They have no significant, lasting impact on the availability, affordability or use of drugs." "I think what was truly depressing about my time in UKADCU was that the overwhelming majority of professionals I met, including those from the police, the health service, the government and voluntary sectors held the same view: the illegality of drugs causes far more problems for society and the individual than it solves. Yet publicly, all those intelligent, knowledgeable people were forced to repeat the nonsensical mantra that the government would be 'tough on drugs', even though they all knew the government's policy was actually causing harm." "I find that when presented with the facts, the students I teach are quite capable of considering issues such as this, and reaching rational conclusions even if they started with a blind Daily Mailesque approach. I find it a shame that no mainstream political party accords the electorate the same respect." Source The Guardian 13.08.08 . Read the complete article at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/aug/13/drugs.legislation BBC Blog Network comments made 30.07.08 available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/profile/?userid=12801828 Sir Keith Morris former UK Ambassador to Colombia (1990-1994)“The attack on the supply side of the drugs trade was always bound to fail if the other elements - precursor chemicals, money laundering and demand - were not tackled too. But there seems to be no shortage of chemicals reaching the traffickers; there have been no striking results on stopping money flows; and demand has grown, with the habit now spreading to the producer countries too. There has been a cultural change which has led to the recreational use of drugs being seen by the younger generation as normal. It is now part of a global consumer society that demands instant gratification. Laws cannot change that. All they can do is create a $500bn criminal industry with devastating effects worldwide. It must be time to start discussing how drugs could be controlled more effectively within a legal framework. Decriminalisation, which is often mentioned, would be an unsatisfactory halfway house, because it would leave the trade in criminal hands, giving no help at all to the producer countries, and would not guarantee consumers a safe product or free them from the pressure of pushers. It has been difficult for me to advocate legalisation because it means saying to those with whom I worked, and to the relatives of those who died, that this was an unnecessary war. But the imperative must be to try to stop the damage. Some politicians have religious objections to any attempt at legalisation. Others still believe that if we persevere the war can be won; and there are many who will tell you in private that we are getting nowhere but believe that the electorate and certainly Washington would never buy radical change. I am not so sure. The younger generation views things differently and what is politically impossible today can become politically imperative tomorrow. I hope this government will at least agree to a serious debate on the subject. It deserves it. “ Source: ‘This war is unwinnable - As ambassador to Colombia , I watched the endless Anglo-US campaigns against drug traffickers and I know they will never work' The Guardian 04.07.01.Read the complete article at http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,516493,00.html
Ken Livingstone Former Mayor of London and former MP “I think all drugs should be decriminalised and addicts could register with their GP for them so organised crime could be driven out of drugs.” Source: IRC on VirginNet, Nov 12, 1997
Lord Ramsbotham Chief Inspector of Probation (at the time of quote, since retired) Lord Ramsbotham told the BBC that "exposure to what the drug culture has done to the people I am seeing in prison, their families and the community from which they come" had convinced him of the need for drastic action. "I think there is merit in legalising and prescribing so people do not have to go and find an illegal way of doing it. "The more I think about it and the more I look at what is happening, the more I can see the logic of legalising drugs, because the misery that is caused by the people who are making criminal profit is so appalling and the sums are so great that are being made illegally." Source: BBC news , 09.07.01 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1429694.stm
Parliamentary CommitteesHome Affairs Select Committee report ‘The Government's Drug Policy: is it working?' 09.05.02 “If there is any single lesson from the experience of the last 30 years, it is that policies based wholly or mainly on enforcement are destined to fail. It remains an unhappy fact that the best efforts of police and Customs have had little, if any, impact on the availability of illegal drugs and this is reflected in the prices on the street which are as low as they have ever been. The best that can be said, and the evidence for this is shaky, is that we have succeeded in containing the problem.” “harm reduction rather than retribution should be the primary focus of policy towards users of illegal drugs. We are glad to note that the Government is making the first tentative steps in that direction. We believe it should go further and have offered some suggestions.” “many sensible and thoughtful people have argued that we should go a step further and embrace legalisation and regulation of all or most presently illegal drugs. We acknowledge there are some attractive arguments. However, those who urge this course upon us are inviting us to take a step into the unknown. To tread where no other society has yet trod.”
“We recommend that the Government initiates a discussion within the Commission on Narcotic Drugs of alternative ways—including the possibility of legalisation and regulation—to tackle the global drugs dilemma” Source: Conclusions and Recommendations of the Home Affairs Select Committee report ‘The Government's Drug Policy: is it working?' 09.05.02 For more info see Transform HASC pages , or view the entire report here
The European Parliament Civil Liberties Committee (1997)“The recommendation also argues that repression should concentrate on illegal drug trafficking, while penalties for those who are simply users of illegal drugs should be abolished. The committee believes that the UN drug conventions of 1961, 1971 and 1988 have led to policies in the Member States which need to be looked at carefully. It urges the Council to call, at the UN General Assembly on Drugs to be held next June, for these conventions to be reviewed, the consumption of illegal drugs decriminalised, the trade in cannabis and its derivatives regulated and methadone and heroin allowed under medical prescription. In addition, the recommendation urges the Council to make more funds available to help reduce demand for drugs and also fund information and education measures, a harm-reduction policy and improvements to health and care facilities for drug addicts. The committee calls on Member States to cooperate to a greater degree over drug-related matters at national, regional and local levels and for the powersof local and regional authorities to be extended in accordance with the Community action programme on the prevention of drug dependence (1996-2000). Lastly, it stresses the importance of pilot projects in urban areas aimed at reducing demand and preventing crime, as well as the value of involving local communities in developing countries.” Source: Press release, ‘ Soft drugs should be legalised. Hard drugs should be available on prescription'. The European Parliament Civil Liberties Committee, Brussels, 04.11.97
US politiciansJimmy Carter former US president"Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself; and where they are, they should be changed. Nowhere is this more clear to me than in the laws against possession of marihuana in private for personal use. . . . Therefore, I support legislation amending Federal law to eliminate all Federal criminal penalties for the possession of up to one ounce of marihuana." Source: speech delivered to US Congress 1977 “We should encourage local police to give priority to violent crimes- assault, robbery, rape, muggings, murders. When I was Governor of Georgia, we stopped treating alcoholism as a crime to provide increased medical help to alcoholics and to free our police and courts to concentrate on violent crimes.” Source: campaign speech in Detroit, in ‘Good As Its People' p. 220. Oct 15, 1976
Bill Clinton former U.S. President
Dan Quayle (then) U.S. Representative, former US Vice president "Congress should definitely consider decriminalizing possession of marijuana.... We should concentrate on prosecuting the rapists and burglars who are a menace to society." Source: unknown, March 1977
Ralph Nader US presidential candidate 2000, Green Party “Our failed war on drugs is endangering our communities, imperilling police, wasting tens of billions of dollars and, because it is criminalizing what is a health problem instead of rehabilitation for drug addicts, is filling our prisons at $40,000 a prisoner and making the corporate-prison industry even richer. The way to go is to look at drug addiction as a rehabilitation challenge, focus on youngsters in terms of prevention, have community policing where the police work and live in the community, which is the best way to make a community safe, and decriminalize marijuana so we can begin to move this into a rehabilitation-health problem.” Source: John Ellis, The Fresno (CA) Bee 22.10.00
Robert F. Kennedy US senator "Now, more than at any other time in our history, the addict is a product of a society which has moved faster and further than it has allowed him to go, a society which in its complexity and its increasing material comfort has left him behind. In taking up the use of drugs the addict is merely exhibiting the outermost aspects of a deep-seated alienation from this society, of a combination of personal problems having both psychological and sociological aspects." "The fact that addiction is bound up with the hard core of the worst problems confronting us socially makes it discouraging at the outset to talk about 'solving' it. 'Solving' it really means solving poverty and broken homes, racial discrimination and inadequate education, slums and unemployment...." Source: Speech to Congress 1965
Jesse Ventura Governor of Minnesota, actor, wrestler “I believe the war on drugs is a failure for the same reasons Prohibition was a failure. My mom told me about that. She lived through it. She saw that as soon as the government made alcohol consumption illegal, criminals cornered the market on liquor. Getting alcohol went from a safe, legal, affordable activity to one that often involved bloodshed and obscene amounts of money. And it gave rise to half a dozen other crimes as well. It caused a huge groundswell in organized crime. It made a lot of criminals rich. Today, illegal drug use is doing the exact same thing.” “Just imagine if we could find some way for addicts to get their drugs cheaply, safely, and legally. The bottom would drop out of the illegal drug market. We'd see a huge drop in organized and violent crime.” From ‘Do I Stand Alone' Jesse Ventura, p.161 Jul 2, 2000
George Schultz Secretary of State for US president Ronald Reagan
Ron Paul former U.S. Texas Congressman
Gary Johnson Governor of New Mexico (1994-2002) “Under a legalized scenario, I say there is going to be a whole new set of laws. Let me just mention a few of those new laws. Let's say you can't do drugs if you're under 21 years of age. You can't sell drugs to kids. I say employers should be able to discriminate against drug users. Employers should be able to conduct drug tests and they should not have to comply with the American with Disabilities Act. Do drugs and do crime? Make it like a gun. Enhance the penalty for the crime in the same way we do today with guns. Do drugs and drive? There should be a law similar to the law we have now for driving under the influence of alcohol. “I've been talking about legalization and not decriminalization. Legalization means we educate, regulate, tax, and control the estimated $400 billion a year drug industry. That's larger than the automobile industry. Decriminalization is a muddy term. It turns its back to half the problems that we're facing--which is to get the entire economy of drugs above the line. So that's why I talk about legalization, meaning control, the ability to tax, the ability to regulate, and the ability to educate. Source: Extracts from speech by Governor Johnson given in 1999: For complete speech see: http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/drugreform.html Cory Booker Mayor of Newark "The drug war is causing crime. It is just chewing up young black men. And it's killing Newark." Source:
New Jersey Star-Ledger, June 24, 2007
European PoliticiansJorge Sampiaio President of Portugal
Latin American PoliticiansGilberto Gil Brazilian Culture Minister In June 2005, Brazilian culture minister Gilberto Gil revealed that he smoked marijuana for years, adding, "I believe that drugs should be treated like pharmaceuticals, legalized, although under the same regulations and monitoring as medicines." Source: angus-reid.com - Read the article here.
Vicente Fox President of Mexico Extract from Associated Press release (details below): ' MEXICO CITY ( AP ) - Struggling with the corruption and violence caused by drug trafficking, President Vicente Fox says the solution might be to eventually legalize drug use.
A slightly different translation of some of this quote (from the original Spanish article in the newspaper Unomasuno 07.03.01) appeared in New York magazine The Village Voice ('Dream of a Worldwide Truce' 05.06.01). The meaning is much the same : "My opinion is that in Mexico it is not a crime to have a small dose of drugs in one's pocket. . . . But the day that the alternative of freeing the consumption of drugs from punishment comes, it will have to be done in the entire world because we are not going to win anything if Mexico does it, but the production and traffic of the drugs . . . to the United States continues. Thus, humanity will one day view it [legalization] as the best in this sense." Jorge Castaneda Mexican Foreign Minister
Jorge Battle President of Uruguay (elected March 2000) reported on www.Narconews.com citing a number of sources (see below) "If this powder [cocaine] was worth only ten cents, there would not be organizations dedicated to make a billion dollars to fund armies in Colombia," Speaking about cocaine policy on November 20th at the 10th Latin American Summit of Heads of State in Panama City. "The day that it is legalized in the United States, it will lose value”, ”And if it loses value, there will be no profit. But as long as the US citizenry doesn't rise up to do something, they will pass this life fighting and fighting." Battle compared the drug problem to that caused by alcohol prohibition in the United States (1918-1933), saying that the drug trafficking problem "will be resolved on the day that the consumers announce that this cannot be fixed by any other manner than changing this situation in the same way that was done with the 'Dry Laws'." On Plan Colombia [the US Colombian drug control programme] he said, "You have to think about the origin of the thing. Basically, where is this consumed? A minimum of 50 percent is consumed in the United States. It seems fine with me that my friend Pastrana [the Colombian president] tries to improve education, health and roads… but this doesn't resolve the problem." Battle added that he has personally proposed the legalization solution to US President Bill Clinton.” Narconews also quote a story in the NRC newspaper (published in Amsterdam, Holland) on December 19, by reporter Marjon Van Royen, its Rio de Janeiro correspondent. It included one line about Battle's statement in a larger story about Plan Colombia. The Dutch correspondent Van Royen wrote: "The right-wing president of Uruguay went even further in early December: 'Why don't we just legalize the drugs?' ” Sources: www.observador.com (Montevideo newspaper) December 1, 2000 http://www.terra.com.uy/canales/actualidad/5/5086.html The story is also (with some of the quotes) reported in the Los Angeles Times: ‘Uruguay Leader Backs Drug Legalization' Sebastian Rotella 28.01.01 (see www.latimes.com archives)
Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela Transform was unable to find a relevant quote directly attributable to Chavez. However, The Chavez Government is proposing to decriminalise personal drug use. The following report is from the US based Drug Policy Alliance 20.01.04 “Venezuela's Chavez Proposes Decriminalization Measures Prosecution for the possession of illegal drugs would become less harsh in Venezuela under a proposal made by the government of President Hugo Chavez last week. According to El Universal , an opposition newspaper published in the capital city of Caracas, drug users could possess up to ten days worth of a drug(s) without criminal penalty under the proposed law. Those who possess additional amounts would be presumed to be drug traffickers and would receive harsh jail sentences of up to twenty years and be forced to pay “tributary units” - a sliding-scale fine based on income that is tied to Venezuela's Consumer Price Index. In order to become law, the Chavez government's proposal, which is part of a larger penal reform effort, must first clear the nation's high court and then pass in an assembly dominated by the opposition.” Source: http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/01_20_04venezuela.cfm
Márcio Thomaz Bastos Brazil's Attorney General “I favour the decriminalisation of drug use,” Source: evidence to the Permanent Committee on the Constitution and Justice (Brazil) 02.04.03, according to a transcript obtained by Narconews.com. Full story: http://www.narconews.com/Issue32/article738.html Gustavo de Grieff former Attorney General of Colombia "The police arrested the drug traffickers, dismembered cartels, confiscated property, destroyed laboratories, intercepted drug shipments and, in spite of all that, nothing happened in the general panorama of the drug fight, because it kept coming to the consumer markets, among those, the most important, in the United States. The business is so profitable that if you disintegrate one cartel, other narco-traffickers take its place in the market." "Drugs are already everywhere, except that because they are prohibited, small consumers that should be treated as patients go to jail - the bad joke is that nobody is rehabilitated in jail - and the quality of the product is worsened by the elements used to adulterate them (to increase their weight and the corresponding profits), causing more damages to the consumer than if they were pure, as medical research has shown on various occasions." Gustavo de Greiff said that in spite of the obstacles in the path toward legalization "it may be that I don¹t live to see it because I'm already many years old (he was born in 1929), but I know that some day drugs will be legalized and it will be shown that we were right" Source: A conversation with Gustavo de Grieff from Narco News Bulletin November 2005 Interational PoliticsDr E.K. Rodrigo former Drug Tsar of Sri Lanka "I imagine it [legal availability of drugs] would work in the same way as alcohol. People would apply for a licence to sell cannabis, coke and heroin. It would help people who were using drugs to do it more safely. The Government and the legal bodies would be freed from chasing these people and it would be a controlled legal trade. You would still have the problem with health, but you have that anyway. At least this would take away the criminal aspect and we could concentrate on reducing the health problem as much as possible. No drugs should be allowed to be marketed. Make all of them available, but no promotion. Don't allow the people who are marketing the drugs to control the image portrayal." Source: James Whittaker, The Bermuda Sun, 'lets talk about a revolution' December 2005
Antonio Maria Costa Exective Director, UNODC “There is indeed a spirit of reform in the air, to make the conventions fit for purpose and adapt them to a reality on the ground that is considerably different from the time they were drafted." (p.13) “Looking back over the last century, we can see that the control system and its application have had several unintended consequences - they may or may not have been unexpected but they were certainly unintended.” (p.10) “The first unintended consequence is a huge criminal black market that thrives in order to get prohibited substances from producers to consumers, whether driven by a 'supply push' or a 'demand pull', the financial incentives to enter this market are enormous.” (p.10) “The second unintended consequence is what one night call policy displacement. Public health, which is clearly the first principle of drug control…was displaced into the background.” (p.10) “The third unintended consequence is geographical displacement. lt is often called the balloon effect because squeezing (by tighter controls) one place produces a swelling (namely an increase)in another place…” (p.10) "Making drug control 'fit for purpose': Building on the UNGASS decade" March 2008
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