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Ferre
Cannabis Sacrament Minister.
Joined: 14 Apr 2003
Posts: 7295
Location: Amsterdam
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 Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2004 10:30 pm Post subject: Drugs: War lost, New Battles |
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| Quote: |
Former Interpol Chief Denounces law-enforcement-dominated Drug Policy in
French daily Le Monde
version française
Senlis Council press release, 26 October 2004
"The opportunity has been missed to profoundly reform a dangerous and
obsolete legal framework and replace it with a modern and effective policy"
Mr Kendall said.
This Article can be found at
www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3232,36-384367,0.html
In an opinion editorial that appeared today in the French daily Le Monde
entitled, "Drugs: War lost, New Battles", Raymond Kendall, the Honorary
Secretary General of Interpol, declared that the law-enforcement-dominated
international policies that have been in place for several decades have
failed to protect the world from drugs. He highlighted the fact that
"cannabis has become a common substance with high rates of consumption,
sometimes more easily accessible than tobacco" and that the distribution of
ecstasy and of cocaine is increasing steadily despite the enormous resources
allocated to the criminal justice system for the "war on drugs".
These policies can today no longer live up to the success of more innovative
mechanisms known under the name of harm reduction that have shown
considerable success with regards to the control of tobacco, alcohol and
heroin consumption. He referred specifically to a recent study in the UK
which found that "every £1 spent on health care saved £3 that would have
been spent on the criminal justice system". Raymond Kendall added that "with
regards to heroin, the medicalization of dependant drug users and the
prescription of pharmaceutical opiates have led to an 80% decrease in
overdose deaths, noticeably limited the spread of epidemics and sharply cut
the delinquency of drug addicts. The number of heroin addicts has also
significantly decreased due to the recent advances in realistic
detoxification processes, and because illegal drug supply has moved towards
a 'medicalized' market".
He regretted however that these innovative policies are often attacked by
the international institutions that apply the heavily US-influenced and
"obsolete" international conventions, adopted since the 1960s, in a very
restrictive manner.
"Although I am not personally in favour of the legalization of drugs, the
general feeling is that the opportunity has been missed to profoundly reform
a dangerous and obsolete legal framework and replace it with a modern and
effective policy," declared Mr Kendall in relation to the unpublicized
release this summer of the five-year plan of the French Inter-ministerial
Mission for the Fight Against Drugs and Addiction (MILTD) which did not meet
the expectations of drug specialists.
He called for Europe to take the lead in the international movement for the
modernisation of drug policy and the reform in 2008 of the three conventions
which presently govern international drug control.
Raymond Kendall will speak publicly in Paris on drug policy on the occasion
of the Paris International Symposium organized by the Senlis Council and SOS
Drogue International: "Local Innovations and Global Challenges", the 25 and
26 of November 2004 at the Regional Council of Ile de France.
Raymond Kendall is the Honorary Secretary General of Interpol (he was
Secretary General from 1985 to 2000) and President, OLAF Supervisory
Committee (European Union Anti-Fraud Office.
http://www.senliscouncil.net/modules/media_centre/opeds/02_oped
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| Raymond Kendall wrote: |
”Although I am not personally in favour of the legalization of drugs, the general feeling is that the opportunity has been missed to profoundly reform a dangerous and obsolete legal framework and replace it with a modern and effective policy,” declared Mr Kendall in relation to the unpublicized release this summer of the five-year plan of the French Inter-ministerial Mission for the Fight Against Drugs and Addiction (MILTD) which did not meet the expectations of drug specialists.
He called for Europe to take the lead in the international movement for the modernisation of drug policy and the reform in 2008 of the three conventions which presently govern international drug control.
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