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posted by chromas on Monday October 01 2018, @04:20AM   Printer-friendly
from the prohibition-always-works dept.

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


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 01 2018, @09:55AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 01 2018, @09:55AM (#742272)

    funds criminals instead of government

    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

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Monday October 01 2018, @03:42PM (#742330) Journal

    https://www.cnn.com/2012/12/06/opinion/branson-end-war-on-drugs/index.html [cnn.com]

    In the United States, if illegal drugs were taxed at rates comparable to those on alcohol and tobacco, they would yield $46.7 billion in tax revenue [ibtimes.com]. A Cato study says legalizing drugs would save the U.S. about $41 billion a year in enforcing the drug laws.

    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]