decriminalize

The Daily News

 

After 40 years of failure in dealing with drug abuse as a criminal problem, it's time to listen to the experts and recognize it as a health issue. Two health policy groups based in this province have helped launched an international effort to tackle the damage done by drug abuse and addiction in a new way. The principle being advanced by the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy is simple.

 

Using a scientific approach, determine what works to reduce the damage done to individuals and societies, and what doesn't. Then do those things that are effective and quit doing those that are ineffective -- or worse, destructive.

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By: Chris Selley , National Post

 

Jamaican gangster and drug kingpin Christopher “Dudus” Coke, subject of a violent month-long manhunt in the slums of West Kingston, surrendered to authorities on Wednesday without a shot being fired. He happened to be dressed as a woman at the time, police gleefully announced, providing photo evidence — a darkly comic anticlimax to a senseless battle that killed 73 people and wounded 35 more. It’s no exaggeration to say that drug consumers in the world’s leading nations have blood on their hands. Their presidents and prime ministers have more.

 

The U.S. indictment against Coke — who may or may not be immediately extradited — makes fascinatingly grim reading. I was especially struck by this passage: Read more »