War on drugs 'has failed' - what next?

A powerful group of former world leaders, including former UN head Kofi Annan and business mogul Richard Branson, have recommended legalization as a potential solution to the blight of the drug trade on communities across the globe.

Bermuda, in the grip of a drug-influenced crime wave, would benefit from heeding the advice of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, says MP Marc Bean.

Mr Bean said the report provided further evidence that it was time for a ‘mature debate’ and potentially a referendum on legalizing drugs in Bermuda.

“When you have such prominent people with that kind of international experience voicing a view based on an evidence based report then surely it is worth us talking about it and considering it in the most rational and mature manner possible.”

The Global Commission on Drug Policy Report argues that anti-drug policy has failed by fuelling organized crime, costing taxpayers millions of dollars and causing thousands of deaths.

The Commission also included the former leaders of Mexico, Colombia and Brazil in what is perhaps the most influential panel ever to recommend the decriminalisation of drug users.

It concludes: “Political leaders and public figures should have the courage to articulate publicly what many of them acknowledge privately: that the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that repressive strategies will not solve the drug problem, and that the war on drugs has not, and cannot, be won.”

Instead of punishing users who the report says “do no harm to others”, the commission argues that governments should end criminalisation of drug use.

It calls for legal models which would focus on health and treatment services for drug users.

Legalisation has long been discussed in academic circles as a potential solution to the ‘war on drugs’.

In a Bermuda Sun interview in 2005, Dr E.K. Rodrigo, who was then in charge of Government’s only treatment centre Turning Point, argued that drugs could be legalised. He said the cash spent on fighting criminal gangs could be diverted towards assisting addicts in kicking their habit.

He told us: “I look at all drugs as the same. They are all potentially harmful to health. I would say nicotine and alcohol are the most dangerous.

“Ideally you would have a situation where all drugs were legal but people did not take them.”

His replacement Dr Chantelle Simmons was unavailable for comment on the latest development yesterday.

But Sandy Butterfield, of FOCUS drug counselling, offered a different perspective. Ms Butterfield, whose organization offers counselling to hundreds of addicts, believes legalisation would lead to a surge in users.

She added: “Would you want to work with persons who are stoned all day? Would you catch a taxi, bus or ferry with a driver or pilot who had just used or is drunk?

“Would you get on airplane knowing that the pilot was stoned? Not me…

“It would make for an interesting dinner party - someone who is drunk that can’t even talk, a heroin addict who is nodding and a cocaine addict who is paranoid.”

Mr Bean accepted that there would be a wide variety of views on the subject.

But he said sweeping it under the carpet was not the answer.

“It is worth having an open debate and discussion about whether there may be benefits to a different approach than the one we are currently pursuing — following the lead of the US.

“Why not have the discussion, see where people stand and let the public decide?”