Caduceus Mercurius
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VIENNA, 10 March 2008 (UNODC) - Addressing the 51 st session of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Antonio Maria Costa, has called for the international drug control regime to be made "fit for purpose for the 21 st century".
Mr. Costa admitted that "drug control has an image problem: too much drug-related crime; too many people in prisons, and too few in health services; too few resources for prevention treatment, and rehabilitation; too much eradication of drug crop, and not enough eradication of poverty".
However, what people fail to see are the accomplishments of drug control.
- illicit drug use has been contained to less than 5% of the world adult population, as opposed to 5 to 6 times this proportion for people addicted to tobacco or alcohol;
- there are no more than 25 million problem drug users - that's less than 0.5% of the world population. There are more people affected by AIDS;
- deaths due to drugs are limited to perhaps 200.000/yr, namely 1/10 of those killed by alcohol and 1/20 of those killed by tobacco;
- world-wide, drug cultivation has been slashed (with the obvious exception of Afghanistan where the issue is insurgency, more than narcotics);
- adherence to the international drug control regime is practically universal, with the principle of shared responsibility unanimously accepted;
- the regulatory system of production, distribution and use of drugs for medical purposes, functions well.
To move beyond merely containing the problem, the UN drugs chief underlined the need for a multilateral approach, and a stronger focus on health. "Scientific evidence shows that drug addiction is an illness that can and must be treated. There are no ideological debates about curing cancer or diabetes; left and right are not divided on the need for treating tuberculosis or HIV. So why are there political contrapositions about drugs?"
As a priority, Mr. Costa urged Member States to prevent and treat drug abuse. At the same time, he underlined the importance of reaching the world's 25 million hardcore drug addicts in order to reduce the harm that they cause to themselves and to society.
He emphasized the need for more funding for development projects to give farmers an alternative to cannabis, coca, and opium: "the eradication of poverty must go hand-in-hand with the eradication of drug crops".
To move forward, the head of UNODC called for more security to help states that are caught in the cross-fire of drug trafficking, and to promote criminal justice to ensure that fighting drugs is based on the rule of law. He spoke out about human rights as a key aspect of drug control, urging states to give serious consideration to whether the imposition of capital punishment for drug-related crimes is best practice: "although drugs kill, I don't believe we need to kill because of drugs", he said.
He called for a grass-roots mobilization of society to help fight drug abuse, and urged civil society and media campaigns "to promote consumer boycotts against the fashion houses, recording companies, and sport enterprises that hire celebrities proud, rather than shameful, of their addiction".
The CND is the central policy-making body within the United Nations system dealing with illicit drugs. It is also the governing body for UNODC's work in the drugs field.
From: www.unodc.org
After reading this, I decided to send the spokesperson of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime a short message:
Dear Mr. Kemp,
Today I read the following on http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/press/releases/2008-03-10.html
However, what people fail to see are the accomplishments of drug control.
- illicit drug use has been contained to less than 5% of the world adult population, as opposed to 5 to 6 times this proportion for people addicted to tobacco or alcohol;
- there are no more than 25 million problem drug users - that's less than 0.5% of the world population. There are more people affected by AIDS;
- deaths due to drugs are limited to perhaps 200.000/yr, namely 1/10 of those killed by alcohol and 1/20 of those killed by tobacco;
Don't you agree these statements are a bit irrelevant and misleading?
For example, they talk about addiction, but most illegal drugs are not addictive, unlike tobacco which is highly addictive. Are any of the psychedelics (LSD, mushrooms, DMT) addictive? No, everyone agrees on that. Is MDMA addictive? No, it isn't. Is cannabis addictive? No, generally it isn't. So from all the drugs that are illegal, there is only a handful that are truly addictive (mentally and physically), and most of these are opiates.
Same for the second statement. Do natural yet illegal drugs like cannabis or mushrooms turn people into "problem drug users"? No. Does MDMA or any of the psychedelics lead to problems for these individuals or their community? No, generally they do not. There is even LSD and Iboga therapy going on to help people END their addictions (to opiates, alcohol etc.), quite succesfully!
Then about the third statement, most illegal drugs are not lethal, or even harmful to one's health. Many of them have beneficial effects on the body and psyche, especially when people are informed about their qualities and guided into using them by experts. Iboga, LSD, MDMA and even cannabis have all been used succesfully by therapists and psychiatrists, and many of these substances have been used for centuries or even millennia, in the context of healing and spirituality.
Kind regards,
I.V.
Mr. Costa admitted that "drug control has an image problem: too much drug-related crime; too many people in prisons, and too few in health services; too few resources for prevention treatment, and rehabilitation; too much eradication of drug crop, and not enough eradication of poverty".
However, what people fail to see are the accomplishments of drug control.
- illicit drug use has been contained to less than 5% of the world adult population, as opposed to 5 to 6 times this proportion for people addicted to tobacco or alcohol;
- there are no more than 25 million problem drug users - that's less than 0.5% of the world population. There are more people affected by AIDS;
- deaths due to drugs are limited to perhaps 200.000/yr, namely 1/10 of those killed by alcohol and 1/20 of those killed by tobacco;
- world-wide, drug cultivation has been slashed (with the obvious exception of Afghanistan where the issue is insurgency, more than narcotics);
- adherence to the international drug control regime is practically universal, with the principle of shared responsibility unanimously accepted;
- the regulatory system of production, distribution and use of drugs for medical purposes, functions well.
To move beyond merely containing the problem, the UN drugs chief underlined the need for a multilateral approach, and a stronger focus on health. "Scientific evidence shows that drug addiction is an illness that can and must be treated. There are no ideological debates about curing cancer or diabetes; left and right are not divided on the need for treating tuberculosis or HIV. So why are there political contrapositions about drugs?"
As a priority, Mr. Costa urged Member States to prevent and treat drug abuse. At the same time, he underlined the importance of reaching the world's 25 million hardcore drug addicts in order to reduce the harm that they cause to themselves and to society.
He emphasized the need for more funding for development projects to give farmers an alternative to cannabis, coca, and opium: "the eradication of poverty must go hand-in-hand with the eradication of drug crops".
To move forward, the head of UNODC called for more security to help states that are caught in the cross-fire of drug trafficking, and to promote criminal justice to ensure that fighting drugs is based on the rule of law. He spoke out about human rights as a key aspect of drug control, urging states to give serious consideration to whether the imposition of capital punishment for drug-related crimes is best practice: "although drugs kill, I don't believe we need to kill because of drugs", he said.
He called for a grass-roots mobilization of society to help fight drug abuse, and urged civil society and media campaigns "to promote consumer boycotts against the fashion houses, recording companies, and sport enterprises that hire celebrities proud, rather than shameful, of their addiction".
The CND is the central policy-making body within the United Nations system dealing with illicit drugs. It is also the governing body for UNODC's work in the drugs field.
From: www.unodc.org
After reading this, I decided to send the spokesperson of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime a short message:
Dear Mr. Kemp,
Today I read the following on http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/press/releases/2008-03-10.html
However, what people fail to see are the accomplishments of drug control.
- illicit drug use has been contained to less than 5% of the world adult population, as opposed to 5 to 6 times this proportion for people addicted to tobacco or alcohol;
- there are no more than 25 million problem drug users - that's less than 0.5% of the world population. There are more people affected by AIDS;
- deaths due to drugs are limited to perhaps 200.000/yr, namely 1/10 of those killed by alcohol and 1/20 of those killed by tobacco;
Don't you agree these statements are a bit irrelevant and misleading?
For example, they talk about addiction, but most illegal drugs are not addictive, unlike tobacco which is highly addictive. Are any of the psychedelics (LSD, mushrooms, DMT) addictive? No, everyone agrees on that. Is MDMA addictive? No, it isn't. Is cannabis addictive? No, generally it isn't. So from all the drugs that are illegal, there is only a handful that are truly addictive (mentally and physically), and most of these are opiates.
Same for the second statement. Do natural yet illegal drugs like cannabis or mushrooms turn people into "problem drug users"? No. Does MDMA or any of the psychedelics lead to problems for these individuals or their community? No, generally they do not. There is even LSD and Iboga therapy going on to help people END their addictions (to opiates, alcohol etc.), quite succesfully!
Then about the third statement, most illegal drugs are not lethal, or even harmful to one's health. Many of them have beneficial effects on the body and psyche, especially when people are informed about their qualities and guided into using them by experts. Iboga, LSD, MDMA and even cannabis have all been used succesfully by therapists and psychiatrists, and many of these substances have been used for centuries or even millennia, in the context of healing and spirituality.
Kind regards,
I.V.
