The time is always wrong to do what is wrong

The British House of Commons Home Affairs Committee inquiry will listen to well-known proponents of drug decriminalization (read drug legalisation), including Richard “Virgin” Branson, Ruth Dreifuss from Switzerland and Ruth Runciman and Roger Howard, and this is happening before the written evidence has been digested and thoroughly considered.

The legalisers have been working hard to get well-known politicians, business people and journalists on board to push for legalisation of cannabis and possibly other drugs. Many years ago, the British daily The Independent pushed for legalisation of cannabis getting support for the idea from the founder of Body Shop, Anita Roddick, from Richard “Virgin” Branson and Paul McCartney, among others. The Independent changed its mind later and, now knowing better, regretted the idea to support legalisation of cannabis.

The Global Commission on Drug Policy is just another example of ignorant proponents of drug legalisation. It is interesting to note that the members of the “Commission” have no expertise whatsoever in the field. However, they are well-known names and maybe some people will be fooled by titles instead of scrutinizing their arguments.

In May last year The Guardian reported that former presidents, prime ministers, eminent economists and leading members of the business community will unite behind a call for a shift in global drug policy. The Global Commission on Drug Policy will host a press conference at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York to launch a report that describes the drug war as a failure and calls for a “paradigm shift” in approaching the issue.

Those backing the call include Ernesto Zedillo, former president of Mexico; George Papandreou, former prime minister of Greece; César Gaviria, former president of Colombia; Kofi Annan, former UN secretary general; Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former president of Brazil; George Shultz, former US secretary of state; Javier Solana, former EU high representative; Virgin tycoon Richard Branson; and Paul Volcker, former chairman of the US Federal Reserve. So what??

This is what happens when the legalisation movement teams up with strong financial interests pushing the agenda via normalisation, harm reduction, in order to finally reach their goal – legalisation of drugs. Pushing for a health approach is just part of the plan, the idea being that nobody is expected to be against a health approach or harm reduction.

There is every reason to be critical of this so-called “health approach”. To facilitate access to drugs has nothing to do with a “health approach” or harm reduction. It is rather harm production.

Furthermore one might ask – What do former presidents, prime ministers, economists and members of the business community really know about drug addiction?