A World Wide Breakdown

With all the recent media buzz surrounding marijuana and the "drug war", it is easy for Americans to forget about the rest of the world. We need to understand that drugs are a worldwide issue that affects people everywhere.

This article points out the problem is alot worst than just the Mexican drug cartels whose violence is starting to spill into the United States. It also makes one realize that America has it's problems but it is still a great country to live in.

Anything goes in the “war on drugs,” or so it seems. Governments around the world have used it as an excuse for unchecked human rights abuse and irrational policies based on knee-jerk reactions rather than scientific evidence. This has caused tremendous human suffering. It also undermines drug control efforts. .... In 2003, law enforcement officials in Thailand killed more than 2,700 people in the government’s “war on drugs.” More than 30 U.N. member states, including China, Indonesia and Malaysia, retain the death penalty for drug offenses — some as a mandatory sentence — in violation of international law. In Russia, untold thousands of heroin users cannot obtain opioid substitution treatment because the government has banned methadone, despite its proven effectiveness.

They even continue to argue that health care across the world has deteriorated because of our naive focus on controlling drug abuse.

The “war on drugs” has distracted countries from their obligation to ensure that narcotic drugs are available for medical purposes. As a result, 80 percent of the world population — including 5.5 million cancer patients and 1 million terminally ill AIDS patients — has no access to treatment for severe pain. Strong pain medications are almost unavailable in most African countries. In India alone some 1 million cancer patients endure severe pain; most have no access to appropriate medications because of restrictions on prescribing them.

America needs to lead the world with new public policy and a new stance on drugs. The United Nations and other countries are searching for someone to guide them in the right direction. The world will start taking alternatives more seriously as America and other countries do. Portugal's drug decriminalization has gone relatively unnoticed, but skeptics have started backing off as empirical data continues to support the change.

The international reporters finish "A Misguided War on Drugs" with a grave warning the world needs to take seriously.

This is not only a human rights problem: It is bad public policy. Research shows that abusive drug control practices, including mass incarceration, are ineffective in controlling illicit drug consumption and drug-related crime, and in protecting public health. Scientific evidence has shown that more supportive “harm-reduction” programs prevent HIV among injection drug users, protect people’s health and lower future health costs. And for those with untreated pain, ignoring their needs removes them and their caregivers from productive life..... Too many lives are at stake for the current head-in-the-sand politics, and if the United Nations and member states continue to bury their heads, they will be complicit in the abuses.