Treating addicts as criminals has failed. The war on drugs has failed. The problem has grown and festered, not improved. Makes sense to try another approach.
Recently Mexico recently changed its laws:
The problem is that production and distribution remains in the hands of unscrupulous people motivated by greed. The law must also be changed so that the people producing and distributing these drugs are motivated by a desire to reduce harm to society and the individual. In other words a government ministry/bureacracy ran by scientists and health professionals.
Here is another viewpoint:
http://blog.norml.org/2009/08/21/new-york-times-mexico-legalizes-drug-possession-well-not-exactly/
Recently Mexico recently changed its laws:
BTW, I disagree with the above. Simply decriminalizing possession of small amounts of contraband drugs alone isn't sufficient and will not likely reduce of eliminate the violence and crime associated with drug use.Heroin and cocaine now legal in Mexico – in small doses
By David Usborne
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
A controversial new law decriminalising the possession of small amounts of heroin, marijuana, cocaine and other illicit substances was quietly slipped on to the statute books in Mexico yesterday.
The move provoked little fuss either in Mexico itself or across the border in the US, which in the past has resisted anything that might be seen as going soft on drugs.
"This is not legalisation. This is regulating the issue," insisted Bernardo Espino del Castillo, the Attorney General, in an attempt to play down the significance of the new measure. The government made sure there was no fanfare or grand announcement after the law was finally passed at the end of last week.
Mexico is enmeshed in a violent war with drugs cartels and traffickers that has claimed more than 11,000 lives in the past two-and-a-half years, and it is keen to explore any new approach that might ease the situation. Officials believe that the law will ease pressure on the country's overcrowded prisons and allow police to concentrate on dealers and smugglers.
The reform will also help by taking away from ordinary police officers the discretion on whether to arrest and possibly prosecute drug users – a prerogative that has encouraged shakedowns of citizens and corruption.
However, it is also with at least half an eye towards America that the law has been signed. Many in Mexico believe that their northern neighbour would do well to reassess its own ultra-prohibitionist approach to drug use, particularly concerning marijuana, sales of which provide roughly two-thirds of the cartels' profits....
Heroin and cocaine now legal in Mexico – in small doses - Americas, World - The Independent
The problem is that production and distribution remains in the hands of unscrupulous people motivated by greed. The law must also be changed so that the people producing and distributing these drugs are motivated by a desire to reduce harm to society and the individual. In other words a government ministry/bureacracy ran by scientists and health professionals.
Here is another viewpoint:
http://blog.norml.org/2009/08/21/new-york-times-mexico-legalizes-drug-possession-well-not-exactly/