Feb
28
COLUMN-In Drug War, old ideas never die: Debusmann
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Here is a stern warning to the states of Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
A UN agency is upset with liberal laws on the medicinal use of marijuana. Very dissapointed.
United Nations (UN) rarely disagrees with internal affairs of its member states and e1000ven less with the United States. But this is just what you”ve done the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) in its latest annual report published this week.
Not to mention the name of the 14 states where the Marijuana is legal for medical purposes, the 149-page report follows:
“Although under federal law of the United States the use and cultivation of cannabis, except for scientific purposes are illegal activities, several states have enacted laws authorizing the #39; therapeutic use #39; of cannabis. The control measures applied in these states for the cultivation of cannabis plants and the production, distribution and use of cannabis away from the control requirements under the Convention of 1961 (on narcotics )”.
“The Board is deeply concerned that those poor control provisions have contributed greatly to increased illicit cultivation and abuse of cannabis in the United States. Moreover, this new regulatory regime is that other countries will form a misconception. “
Board”s concerns do not end here. It is also distressed by “the ongoing debate in several federal states about the legalization and use tax levy #39; recreational #39; of cannabis.”
California, the most populous state U.S., stands out in this discussion. In mid-February, a California legislator, Tom Ammiamo, introduced a bill that would tax and regulate marijuana (which by most estimates is by far the largest crop in the state) in the same way alcohol.
In addition, those who support the legalization of marijuana in California said they had collected over 700,000 signatures for a referendum to be held in November.
There is no slightest hint in the UN report the growing support for more liberal laws on marijuana, the most widely used illicit drug in the world.
U.S. The latest poll on the issue in January showed that eight in 10 Americans support the legalization of marijuana for medical use and about half are in favor of legalizing drugs in small quantities for personal use.
Countries who have done this have been reprimanded by the INCB, which refers to Mexico, Argentina and Brazil have sent “the wrong message” to pass legislation to decriminalize the possession of drugs and replacing prison sentences with treatment and education programs.
UN passes the line
In the eyes of two centers of liberal advisers, the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and the Transnational Institute, lecturing the United States, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil on the way they manage the use of narcotics beyond its mandate.
The rebuke, saying in a joint statement the two groups, ” clearly exceeds the mandate of the INCB and constitutes an unwarranted interference in the sovereign decisions of these countries. “
1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs placed the marijuana in the most restrictive category along with heroin (as does the U.S. federal government) and for years was seen as a major obstacle to domestic reform in the signatory countries.
But a treaty monitoring in 1988 gave a measure of flexibility as to whether or not possession of illicit drugs should be treated as a criminal offense.
In the U.S., for decades the spiritual home of rigid defenders of the prohibitions on marijuana , Attorney General, Eric Holder, new guidelines issued in October of policies that marked a milestone in a protracted dispute over whether federal laws trump the state in matters relating to marijuana. <1000/p> Holder announced that the Justice Department would pave marijuana plants mounted under state law.
This was far more high-profile drug policy so far recorded during the presidency of Barack Obama, who officially marks that “war on drugs has been a complete failure. We need to rethink and decriminalize our marijuana laws.”
The president made the remarks in 2004, when he was competing for a seat in the States Senate USA.
As a presidential candidate and speaking in a general sense on drug policy, not just marijuana, Obama said he believed in “change the paradigm, change the model so you can focus more in a public health approach. “
In the extensive global dispute over drug strategies, this means not treating addicts as criminals but as patients who deserve attention in the public health system.
To listen to Obama”s drug czar, former Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowski, talk about it, this change is taking place. But is it really?
The answer is no, judging from the newly revealed data on national drug control budget for fiscal 2011, which begins in October. The budget allocates U.S. $ 15,500 million in overall spending, an increase of 3.5 percent over 2010, and allocates more money to police control (9.900 million) that the addiction treatment and preventive measures (5,600 million dollars).As in the budgets under President George W. Bush, the figures do not include the vast cost of arresting drug offenders in the area and placed in jail, a practice that has helped transform the United States in the country with the most prisoners in the world.
Given these costs, 73 percent of overall spending is intended for law enforcement and control of illicit drug supply, said John Walsh, a senior expert WOLA.
Aaron Houston, director of government relations Marijuana Policy Project, sees the budget as evidence of recycling Bush”s policies rather than as the paradigm shift that Obama promised.
It came from Bush on bottles of Obama.
(You can contact the author at Debusmann@Reuters.com)