The UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs is meeting this week to discuss possible changes in the regulation of drugs thus far deemed illegal. In March 1961, the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs was signed.
This Convention obliges all UN member states to prohibit the production and distribution of a number of psychoactive substances that are considered dangerous for public health.
Pippa Bartolotti, Wales Green party Leader said, “It is time to separate out the use of cannabis from hard drugs such as heroin and cocaine. No one has yet died from using cannabis, in fact the health benefits of cannabis in the treatment of epilepsy and cancer are already well documented. Commercial organisations in the UK are already allowed to patent and sell cannabis extracts, whilst the population as a whole is criminalised for using it – even if it saves their life. This simply has to be changed.
“Cannabis has been wrongly labelled as a gateway drug. It is not. It is the criminalisation of it which is the gateway to harder drugs. If we remove cannabis from the black market there will be many benefits for society – not least in taxation. In Colorado, where the commercial sale of cannabis is now legal, the state has collected $3.5 million in taxes in the first 2 months. “
There is some confusion as to how legalisation would look. For example to compare cannabis with alcohol would be a mistake. Alchohol is responsible for thousands of deaths every year. Alcohol, along with cigarettes, has been marketed heavily for decades. Cannabis would not be marketed or advertised. It would simply be available through licensed suppliers. This would have the effect of providing a much better quality product, free from unknown and often toxic additives, and free from the unsavoury pressures of the black market.
The Wales Leader added, “The so-called War on Drugs was lost as soon as it was started, with billions spent on policing and imprisonment, none of which have worked. It’s time to face up to the facts. Decriminalisation of cannabis will save those billions, plus it will add taxable income to the Treasury where it should rightfully be spent on public health. Yet only the Greens have the courage to stand up for the scientific evidence and push for change in the law.”
Since legalisation in January 2014, 59 cannabis firms in Colorado filed tax returns on an estimated $14m in sales. 20 US states allow for the sale of medical marijuana.
The debate on the need for a study of alternative drug policies is intensifying and gaining speed at a global scale. The experiences with (de facto) cannabis decriminalization in the Netherlands and with decriminalization of the other drugs in Portugal and other countries show that legal regulation of previously forbidden drugs does not increase the drug problem.
Pippa Bartolotti added, “Continuation of this costly drug prohibition, without considering the alternatives, must be seen as a dereliction of duty. Future generations will want to know how it was possible that this disastrous prohibition of cannabis has continued for so long.”