SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Canada signs on to U.S.-led renewal of war on drugs
Canada was rebuked on Monday by a group of world leaders and experts on drug policy for endorsing a Trump-led declaration renewing the "war on drugs" and for passing up a critical moment to provide global leadership on drug regulation.
The Trudeau government's decision to sign on to the declaration, released by the White House on the sidelines of U.S. President Donald Trump's first attendance at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, contradicts Ottawa's previous skepticism of Washington's drugs war at home and abroad, and comes just weeks before cannabis legalization in Canada.
Former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark said she believed that both Canada and Mexico − which also signed the declaration even though president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has repeatedly said that the "war on drugs" has failed and he will pursue new policy − likely have signed on reluctantly, held hostage by the North American free-trade agreement talks in Washington, over which a critical deadline looms.
Countries that signed the "Global Call to Action on the World Drug Problem" were promised an invitation for their leader to attend a kick-off event with Mr. Trump in New York. The statement was not drafted in the usual multilateral process of a declaration from the UN and the wording was presented as non-negotiable. One hundred and thirty countries signed but 63 did not; the dissenters include major U.S. allies such as Germany, Norway and Spain.
Previously: Canada Becomes the Second Nation to Legalize Cannabis
Related: WP says Marijuana Legalization Makes World a Better Place
(Score: 5, Informative) by takyon on Monday October 01 2018, @06:05AM (2 children)
1. Most people aren't choosing to use fentanyl. They are choosing heroin, but getting "whatever".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fentanyl#Recreational_use [wikipedia.org]
Likewise, people who want MDMA or other substances often get "whatever" instead. Legalize or at least decriminalize everything, and more people will be getting what they want instead of something made in the trailer park, or low-quality stuff mixed with chemicals that could kill an elephant.
Heroin, Fentanyl? Meh: Carfentanil is the Latest Killer Opioid [soylentnews.org]
Legalize cannabis, and people won't bother with K2/spice [wikipedia.org]. And they can get organic cannabis grown by hippies instead of low-grade, pesticide-drenched cannabis.
2. The main issue for now is cannabis, and legalizing cannabis has shown to result in lower opioid use rates:
Two More Studies Link Access to Cannabis to Lower Use of Opioids [soylentnews.org]
Plenty of people fall into heroin use after legitimate use of opioid painkillers causes them to become addicted. Big Pharma knows how to create real gateway drugs.
The War on Drugs isn't just trampling on people's freedoms. It's also expensive, counter-productive, kills more people, funds criminals instead of government, spreads misinformation by lumping dissimilar drugs together, and doesn't lower drug use.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 01 2018, @09:55AM (1 child)
Instead of? More criminals = more funding for government agencies fighting those criminals. The worst thing that could happen to such an agency is a substantial reduction of crime.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by takyon on Monday October 01 2018, @03:42PM
https://www.cnn.com/2012/12/06/opinion/branson-end-war-on-drugs/index.html [cnn.com]
The DEA budget is only about $2.1 billion annually.
What happens if you reduce the amount spent on enforcing drug laws, putting it towards other uses, and divert billions of dollars of untaxed revenue from the cartels? You #MAGA, most likely.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]