A new approach to drug decriminalisation

The new report from the Global Commission on Drug Policy (GCDP) calls for global decriminalisation of all drugs. Titled Advancing Drug Policy Reform: a new approach to drug decriminalization, the report details the negative consequences of punitive drug policies and the need to review current decriminalisation models.

In addition, the document explains how their implementation has contributed to effective drug policies. It recommends ending all penalties –both civil and criminal- for drug consumers, and affirms that regulation is “the next logical step”.

Specifically, the report says that states must abolish the death penalty for all drug-related offenses, end criminal and civil penalties for drug possession and cultivation –for personal use-, and implement alternatives to punishment for all low-level offences in the drug trade. It also advocates United Nations (UN) member states to remove the penalisation of drug possession and to explore regulatory models.

César Gaviria, former President of Columbia and member of GCDP, said: “In order to build solid and effective policies to mitigate the harms of the last 60 years of wrong policies, and to prepare for a better future where drugs are controlled more effectively, we need to implement the full and non-discretionary decriminalization of personal use and possession of drugs.”

“After years of denouncing the dramatic effects of prohibition and the criminalization of people that do no harm but use drugs in the society as a whole, it is time to highlight the benefits of well-designed and well-implemented people-centered drug polices,” said former Swiss President Ruth Dreifuss –Chair of the Global Commission-.

About the Global Commission on Drug Policy

Political leaders, cultural figures and personalities from the financial and business sectors established the organisation in 2010. Nowadays, the Commission boasts 23 members, including the former presidents of Colombia, Mexico and Brazil, as well as former UN Secretary General: Kofi Annan, consequently, their annual reports are highly influential.

Could this be the report that finally changes the legal status of cannabis?