ALJAZEERA: Otto Pérez Molina, the president of Guatemala, floated an audacious idea last December. His government was considering legalizing the production of opium poppy — the source of morphine, which is the principal ingredient of heroin — as an alternative to combating drug-fueled bloodshed in Central America, where the number of violent deaths today mirrors those of the 1980s, when the region was entangled in civil wars.
That seemingly fanciful proposal gained steam on Monday with the release of a pioneering report, “Take Control: Pathways to Drug Policies That Work.” In it a group of global luminaries calls for the decriminalization of all drug use and the legal regulation of psychoactive substances. The Global Commission on Drugs — headed by the likes of former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, Reagan-era U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz and former presidents of Latin America — represents the most distinguished group of leaders to call for drastic drug policy alternatives.
Punitive drug laws, the commission says, must be replaced by public health principles and a focus on human rights. Treat drug users as patients, not criminals, its members say, and counter drug traffickers by regulating illegal drug markets and slicing into the money — and power — generated by drug syndicates, which the United Nations estimates rake in $330 billion a year… (more)
