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5 Nobel Prize economists call for an end to the drug war
http://www.lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/news/archives/2014/05/EndWarOnDrugsReport.aspx
Five Nobel Prize economists call for an end to the 'war on drugs' in a new report from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
Ending the Drug Wars: Report of the LSE Expert Group on the Economics of Drug Policy outlines the enormous negative outcomes and collateral damage from the ‘war on drugs’ and includes a call on governments from five Nobel Prize economists to redirect resources away from an enforcement-led and prohibition-focused strategy, toward effective, evidence-based policies underpinned by rigorous economic analysis.
First, resources should be drastically reallocated away from law enforcement and repressive policies towards proven public health policies of harm reduction and treatment, with governments ensuring that these services are fully resourced to meet requirements.
Second, rigorously monitored policy and regulatory experimentation should be encouraged. States should be allowed to pursue new initiatives, the report argues, in order to determine which policies work and which don't. The places that legalise cannabis first will provide an external benefit to the rest of the world in the form of knowledge regardless of how the experiments turn out. As a result, pioneering jurisdictions should be accepted as long as they take adequate measures to prevent ‘exports’.
Five Nobel Prize economists call for an end to the 'war on drugs' in a new report from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
Ending the Drug Wars: Report of the LSE Expert Group on the Economics of Drug Policy outlines the enormous negative outcomes and collateral damage from the ‘war on drugs’ and includes a call on governments from five Nobel Prize economists to redirect resources away from an enforcement-led and prohibition-focused strategy, toward effective, evidence-based policies underpinned by rigorous economic analysis.
First, resources should be drastically reallocated away from law enforcement and repressive policies towards proven public health policies of harm reduction and treatment, with governments ensuring that these services are fully resourced to meet requirements.
Second, rigorously monitored policy and regulatory experimentation should be encouraged. States should be allowed to pursue new initiatives, the report argues, in order to determine which policies work and which don't. The places that legalise cannabis first will provide an external benefit to the rest of the world in the form of knowledge regardless of how the experiments turn out. As a result, pioneering jurisdictions should be accepted as long as they take adequate measures to prevent ‘exports’.
h/t http://www.alternet.org/drugs/5-nobel-prize-economists-call-end-failed-war-drugs
Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina announced the report, titled “Ending the Drug Wars: Report of the LSE Expert Group on the Economics of Drug Policy,” during a live event at the London School of Economics, which published the paper.
In addition to the Nobel Prize economists (Kenneth Arrow, Sir Christopher Pissarides, Thomas Schelling, Vernon Smith, and Oliver Williamson), international players such as former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz and Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Nick Clegg signed the report’s forward—signaling the level of attention that may be awarded to this report and, perhaps, a shift in policy to be expected on the horizon.
The report mounts a hefty case based on economic analysis, highlighting a variety of consequences suffered globally as a result of the War on Drugs. Among the examples, the report points to correlations between Colombia’s growing illegal drug trade (which increased 200 percent between 1994 and 2008) and its homicide rate. Around 3,8000 homicides occur each year “that are associated with illegal drug markets and the War on Drugs,” it says. Farther north, Mexico has experienced a tripling of its homicide rate in a four-year span from 2006 to 2010.
The document’s Nobel Prize-winning authors turn their attention to the War on Drugs’ relationship to overflowing prisons, explaining that an estimated 40 percent of the world’s 9 million incarcerated individuals are behind bars for drug offences. In U.S. federal prisons, this figure went from 25 to 59 percent from 1980 to 1998.
Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina announced the report, titled “Ending the Drug Wars: Report of the LSE Expert Group on the Economics of Drug Policy,” during a live event at the London School of Economics, which published the paper.
In addition to the Nobel Prize economists (Kenneth Arrow, Sir Christopher Pissarides, Thomas Schelling, Vernon Smith, and Oliver Williamson), international players such as former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz and Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Nick Clegg signed the report’s forward—signaling the level of attention that may be awarded to this report and, perhaps, a shift in policy to be expected on the horizon.
The report mounts a hefty case based on economic analysis, highlighting a variety of consequences suffered globally as a result of the War on Drugs. Among the examples, the report points to correlations between Colombia’s growing illegal drug trade (which increased 200 percent between 1994 and 2008) and its homicide rate. Around 3,8000 homicides occur each year “that are associated with illegal drug markets and the War on Drugs,” it says. Farther north, Mexico has experienced a tripling of its homicide rate in a four-year span from 2006 to 2010.
The document’s Nobel Prize-winning authors turn their attention to the War on Drugs’ relationship to overflowing prisons, explaining that an estimated 40 percent of the world’s 9 million incarcerated individuals are behind bars for drug offences. In U.S. federal prisons, this figure went from 25 to 59 percent from 1980 to 1998.
The UN will hold a session to decide its drug policy in 2016. In meetings concerning this same issue, there was an unprecedented leak in 2013, revealing the lack of consensus and the unwillingness of nations in South and Central America, as well as Europe, to be forced to adhere to outdated policy related to drug use.
http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/12/more-un-states-quietly-say-no-to-drug-war/
The document, first publicised by the Guardian and obtained by IPS, contains over 100 specific policy recommendations and proposals from member states, many at odds with the status quo on illicit drug eradication and prohibition.
...Under U.S. law, the Department of State must every year publish a report that includes evaluating whether foreign aid recipients meet the “goals and objectives” of the 1988 agreement.
Most UNODC funding comes from member states, which can attach strings to “special-purpose funds.”
This means countries can maintain both private and public stances on drug policy. Switzerland, which began offering heroin-assisted treatment for addicts in 2008, backtracked this week in a press statement that stressed the leaked document was part of a “brainstorming” session and that it “does in no way support any efforts or attempts of changing the three U.N. Drug Conventions as they are today.”
The document, first publicised by the Guardian and obtained by IPS, contains over 100 specific policy recommendations and proposals from member states, many at odds with the status quo on illicit drug eradication and prohibition.
...Under U.S. law, the Department of State must every year publish a report that includes evaluating whether foreign aid recipients meet the “goals and objectives” of the 1988 agreement.
Most UNODC funding comes from member states, which can attach strings to “special-purpose funds.”
This means countries can maintain both private and public stances on drug policy. Switzerland, which began offering heroin-assisted treatment for addicts in 2008, backtracked this week in a press statement that stressed the leaked document was part of a “brainstorming” session and that it “does in no way support any efforts or attempts of changing the three U.N. Drug Conventions as they are today.”
Bolivia has already claimed an exemption for coca leaves as part of indigenous culture in that nation. Uruquay has already nationalized/legalized cannabis (and has been in talks with Canada and Israel to grow marijuana for medical use in those nations.)
This is an important moment. All laws regarding drug policy in various nations are designed to meet the UN Single Conventions on Drugs (tho every nation has the discretion to schedule substances apart from this convention, and there is no real penalty for refusal to follow such conventions for any major nation - but it's time for a worldwide change in drug policy - to move from a punishment model to a rehabilitation/harm reduction model.
16 replies
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stick to talking about something safe, like drugs, rather than wtf-ever is the scandal du jour... 
I guess I should talk about something really scandalous, like... booty popping or other incredibly important issues. 
