world drug report 2009

As the world marks the end of the first century of drug prohibition -- the first international anti-drug convention was signed in Shanghai in 1909 -- the global anti-drug bureaucracy finds itself on the defensive. Faced with a rising chorus of critics, the bureaucracy fought back this week as the United Nations Office on Crime and Drugs (UNODC) issued its World Drugs Report 2009. That the UNODC finally feels compelled to confront -- instead of ignore -- its critics is a sign of progress.

In addition to its usual quantifying of marginal changes in drug production and consumption levels and exhortations to try harder to fight the drug menace, this year's report was remarkable for its preface, penned by UNODC head Antonio Maria Costa, and, in a reversal of tone if not policy, some approving mention of Portugal's eight-year-old experiment with decriminalization.

On decriminalization in Portugal the report noted that: Read more »

The irony is truly remarkable. Kerlikowske claims legalization isn't in his vocabulary, yet the whole purpose of the press conference is to present a report that discusses legalization at great length. The drug czar's strategy of trying not to legitimize our position is completely at odds with the approach of the UN, thus he ultimately just comes across as unprepared. And that's exactly what he is. He's so unprepared to defend the drug war, he must pretend that legalization doesn't exist. It isn't going to work.

Click here to help our friends at LEAP send a message to the UN that it's time to move beyond the war on drugs.

Today the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime released a report calling for the decriminalization of casual and addict drug use and personal cannabis production. After a preface regurgitating the same tired and defunct arguments against repealing prohibition, the Report itself provides significant evidence that a law-enforcement based approach to drugs has failed. The Beyond Prohibition Foundation hopes that this report represents a fundamental and progressive shift in the official position of the international organization and a step away from the failed “War on Drugs” paradigm. Read more »