Former Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged on Thursday the start of an international debate on drug legalization, after stating that the policy of the Mexican president, Felipe Calderón is not working.

“When one looks at the results of Mexican president Calderón’s efforts, most will say it did not work. Too many people have been killed. The Drug Policy has to change, and we need to start with a debate and a discussion,” said Annan at the Brookings Institution.

Annan participated last year in the work of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, chaired by former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, and advocated decriminalization. President Calderon, whose war against organized crime has killed more than 60 thousand Mexicans, recently asked the United Nations General Assembly for an open discussion on the topic.

Annan, who presented his autobiography in Washington, explained: “We have enforced the [drug] laws for decades, filling the prisons with young people whose lives were destroyed by drugs. We have to address this issue through education, health, and not with the brutal reaction”.

Bill (4033/12, formulated by Representative Eduardo da Fonte (PP-PE), proposes the creation of the Therapeutic Justice Program under the Special Criminal Court. The bill, which has already reached the House of Representatives, hopes to enable the rehabilitation of drug users and addicts who commit minor degree offenses. The program will integrate the families of offenders in the monitoring, treatment, and process of reintegrating the offender.

According to the proposal, the Therapeutic Justice Program will be composed of interdisciplinary teams made up of, at least, one social worker team, one psychologist team, and one psychiatrist team.

“This bill is part of the Brazilian Actions for the Fight on Drugs. It aims to establish a set of measures that increase the chances of drug users and addicts to enter and remain in treatment,” says its author.

Process
The matter is being processed in conclusive character and will be examined by committees of Social Security and Family; Public Security and Combating Organized Crime, and the Constitution, Justice and Citizenship.

Full Proposal

As many as one in every 25 people worldwide uses cannabis despite the negative health effects associated with the drug, according to a new study published in the Lancet today.

The report, which uses estimates supplied by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, reveals that cannabis continues to be the drug most widely cultivated and used around the world.

The study indicates that 166 million adults between the ages of 16 and 64 admitted to using the drug at least once a week during 2006, equivalent to 3.9 per cent of the global population.

Read the full text.