Mark Lopez lives in Manila and is a graduate from the prestigious University of Santo Tomas. His online writing recent caught global attention when he penned an open letter to the US Congress slamming American politicians who criticise Philippines for supposed ‘human rights infractions’ without full knowledge of the real human rights disaster caused by drug use and the crime wave caused by the narcotics trade.
In 2001, Portugal decriminalized the use of all drugs – weed, cocaine, heroin, you name it. Portugal decided to treat possession and use of drugs as a public health issue, not a criminal one. The drugs are still illegal but getting caught with them means a small fine and maybe a referral to a treatment program – not jail time and a criminal record.
Ecstasy (MDMA) pills are shown. MDMA is among six drugs now decriminalized under Oregon’s new law.
Oregon’s state legislature just reduced penalties for drug possession in a bill also intended to reduce racial profiling by law enforcement agencies.
(ANTIMEDIA) — Oregon’s state legislature just reduced penalties for drug possession in a bill also intended to reduce racial profiling by law enforcement agencies.
(ANTIMEDIA Op-ed) The Drug Enforcement Agency just admitted that cannabis has never killed anyone. Ever. They also acknowledged that the little green plant, which has been used across civilizations for thousands of years, causes “merriment” and “happiness.” But they still want to keep it illegal.
Ted Cruz recently asserted that the United States military needs to be sent to Mexico to attack the drug cartels head-on. This is a bad idea. But so is the drug war itself, both constitutionally and logically. Many who support the war do so with the best of intentions, but has it really helped? Or has it done more harm than good, like the Prohibition of the 1920s? Is this war even legal in the first place?
James Harrigan and Antony Davies discuss these questions in this week's Words and Numbers.
A little background: I was a major stoner... in the 1960s, when I was in college. I stopped using drugs on January 1, 1969 sitting in my van on the border between Pakistan and India. I had no interest in smoking pot after that-- other than when Neil Young delivered a new album to me personally-- I worked at his record label. Once I was up at his ranch listening to his new songs and I took a couple of hits and got wasted and there was a huge buffalo staring at me on the other side of a window. Other than those times, pot was off my radar.
To understand the opioid epidemic, we must understand the economics of the Iron Law of Prohibition.
21st Century Wire says…
Last April, the UN general assembly met to discuss how the world’s nations can “combat the global drug problem.” It was just the latest non-event in a long line of categorical failures, led by the United States.
