[HARMRED] Fwd: [Whrin-list]Happy anniversary to the War on Drugs!

[Claudia Figallo]

Hello all,
I thought some people might be interested in this message, it's forwarded
from the Women in Harm Reduction International Network.
Claudia


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 *Please share this message with friends & colleagues. ***
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This week marks the 40th anniversary of Richard Nixon's declaration of the
War on Drugs. It is one of the world's great shames that this action ever
began, and an even greater shame that it was funded to escalate and continue
unchallenged, until recently, except in despotic countries around the world
and, alas, in the USA.
Trillions of dollars have been spent on this irrational war. Thousands of
people have died, and many more die each day in this vain battle. Many have
been murdered, and many have died of preventable infectious diseases -
HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C - or through overdoses.  Astronomical numbers have
been imprisoned, and a prison industry has sprung up around this to handle
the vast increases in prison populations. Democracy has been undermined and
perverted in the name of this war.
But this war hasn't stopped the use or flow of drugs. Rather, it has
encouraged a pernicious criminal system that alcohol prohibition gave us
only a mild hint of.
Now, Canada is stepping up its commitment to this futile war and turning its
back on things that do, or might, work.
See these two recent articles for pertinent information
Conrad Black and Evan Wood: Drug Prohibition Is Dumb on Crime
http://tinyurl.com/3vfun5r
Jimmy Carter: Call Off the Global Drug War
http://tinyurl.com/5shurro
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 *We urge Canadians to contact your MPs and urge them to challenge
Conservative anti-crime legislation. You can find their addresses here:*
http://tinyurl.com/6ky2xan
http://tinyurl.com/6fqokjg
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 Finally ... Here are several reports that show that the War on Drugs has
failed.  They will be useful as you analyse your own thoughts about this and
as evidence you may be able to use in making a case for the development of
new responses to the current drug-related situations:
International Drug Policy Consortium: Selected publications on the failure
of the drug-control regime
*http://idpc.net/publications/failure-regime-selected-publications*<http://idpc.net/publications/failure-regime-selected-publications>

Reports that show alternative approaches of decriminalisation and regulation
are working:
*http://idpc.net/publications/alternative-strategies-selected-publications*<http://idpc.net/publications/alternative-strategies-selected-publications>

General report on drug law reform in practice:
*http://www.tni.org/report/legislative-innovation-drug-policy*<http://www.tni.org/report/legislative-innovation-drug-policy>

The Global Commission on Drug Policy that calls on the UN to end the war on
drugs
*http://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/Documents.aspx*<http://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/Documents.aspx>

Drug War by the Numbers
*http://www.drugpolicy.org/facts/drug-war-numbers*<http://www.drugpolicy.org/facts/drug-war-numbers>

Final Report of the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy
*http://www.drogasedemocracia.org/English/Destaques.asp?IdRegistro=8*<http://www.drogasedemocracia.org/English/Destaques.asp?IdRegistro=8>
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*The simplistic "solution " offered by the "War on Drugs" is a reaffirmation
of the old addage that for every complicated set of problems there is always
one simple solution ... that is invariably wrong.*
**
*As our commitment to the sane and healthy future of a civilised world, it
is our role to challenge the "War on Drugs".*

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