The UN’s prohibitionism impedes drug policy reform

Evidence-based practices on narcotics use are being undermined by a five-decade-old international convention
Al Jazeera
Tuesday, March 17, 2015

The U.N. commission on drugs insists that the ultimate goal of its prohibitionist drug policy is to ensure “the mental and physical health and welfare of humankind.” Yet the unrelenting effort to prohibit drug use has been infinitely more harmful than drug use itself. It has been 27 years since the last major reform to the U.N. conventions on drug abuse, which strengthened an already stringent prohibitionist regime. When it meets again next year, the U.N. General Assembly should work toward giving nations the legal wiggle room necessary to loosen their grip.