The Peace Party welcomes the findings of an international commission of medical experts * arguing that current policies, attempting to control the use of psycho-active substances, lead to violence, deaths and the spread of disease, harming health and human rights.

The commission calls on the United Nations to back de-criminalisation of minor, non-violent drug offences involving the use, possession and sale of small quantities.  Military force against drug networks should be phased out, it says, and policing should be better targeted on the most violent armed criminals.

Past use of force has not worked, the commission concludes, as evidenced, for example, of the use in Mexico in 2006 of the military in civilian areas to fight drug traffickers which “ushered in an epidemic of violence in many parts of the country” that also spilled out into other parts of Central America.

The commission cites examples of countries and US states that have moved down the de-criminalisation road.  “Countries such as Portugal and the Czech Republic de-criminalised minor drug offences years ago, with significant financial savings, less incarceration, significant public health benefits, and no significant increase in drug use,” says the report.

* From the “Lancet” and John Hopkins University in the USA (quoted in The Guardian Weekly, 1st April, 2016)

See: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/mar/24/medical-experts-call-for-global-drug-decriminalisation