NYTimes | The
war on drugs is essentially a war on people. But old habits die hard.
Many countries are still addicted to waging this war. As Colombia’s
current president, Juan Manuel Santos, said,
“We are still thinking within the same framework as we have done for
the last 40 years.” Fortunately, more and more governments also concede
that a new approach is needed, one that strips out the profits that
accompany drug sales while ensuring the basic human rights and public
health of all citizens.
If we are going to get drugs under control, we need to have an honest conversation. The Global Commission on Drug Policy
— of which I am a founding member — has supported an open,
evidence-based debate on drugs since 2011. We strongly support reducing
drug supply and demand, but differ fundamentally with hard-liners about
how this should be achieved. We are not soft on drugs. Far from it.
What
do we propose? Well, for one, we do not believe that military hardware,
repressive policing and bigger prisons are the answer. Real reductions
in drug supply and demand will come through improving public health and
safety, strengthening anticorruption measures — especially those that
combat money laundering — and investing in sustainable development. We
also believe that the smartest pathway to tackling drugs is
decriminalizing consumption and ensuring that governments regulate
certain drugs, including for medical and recreational purposes.
