Everyday we read national headlines about the war on drugs. More and more elected officials are saying the war on drugs is not working and that we need to consider alternatives. There are stories about states like California considering taxing and regulating marijuana. There is coverage about drug prohibition in Mexico leading to a war zone where thousands of people are being killed every year. There are front page stories about countries from Portugal to Argentina to Mexico decriminalizing small amounts of drugs because they realize that they can't incarcerate their way out of addiction. It is one thing to read about it, but it is another to jump in and try to come up with solutions to the failed war on drugs.
From November 12-14, a wide range of advocates, doctors, lawyers, activists, treatment providers, law enforcement, students, educators, and formerly incarcerated people will converge for the biennial International Drug Policy Reform Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where it was previously held in 2001. The conference returns to New Mexico because the state is a beacon of reform, recently passing innovative medical marijuana legislation and the nation's first Good Samaritan law to prevent fatal overdoses.
The conference comes at a crucial time: more people than ever grasp the need for our drug policy to shift from criminalization to a public health model. The viability of major reforms is increasing day by day, making now a pivotal moment for exploring alternatives to our nation's ineffective and damaging lock-'em-up drug laws.
This year's conference will cover a range of topics, chief among them marijuana legalization. In this new political climate, meaningful reform of marijuana laws is closer on the horizon than ever. Thanks to decades of grassroots activism, combined with the harsh realities of the ongoing economic crisis, the national debate is finally turning in favor of the taxation and regulation of marijuana. In one of the key panels at the conference an array of experts will propose possible regulatory schemes and discuss their potential effectiveness.
Holding the conference in Albuquerque gives us a unique opportunity to examine the intersection of immigration policy and drug policy reform, as well as drug war violence on both sides of the border. Drug policy movers and shakers also plan to push the envelope by discussing innovations that have been successfully implemented in other countries: services like prescribing heroin to people who suffer from addiction to allow them to lead normal lives, or providing supervised injection facilities to protect people who use drugs from disease and lethal overdose.
Our nation's drug policy should be based on reason, compassion, health and human rights, but to do so will take a great deal of strategizing and organizing. Anyone who believes the drug war does more harm than good is encouraged to attend November's conference. As usual, it will be a high-energy, can't-miss event, where even the strangest of bedfellows can find much to agree on.
Join us in New Mexico! For more info: http://www.reformconference.org/
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To buy such drugs, require an ID proving name and age. Why? Because some jobs require a clear mind for safety reasons: Airline pilot, doctor, etc. Let employers know who's using and who's not.
Severe penalties for street sales and sales by pharmacists who sell to anyone without ID.
Drug rehab be financed via a tax on drug sales. Rehab at no cost to the addict.
I have read that 3% of Americans were addicts before drug laws were enacted; 3% of Americans are addicts today.
By legalizing sale to adults only, street sales become a losing proposition, children won't keep dealers wealthy. The next generation of users won't be addicted at 13.
Just load a C-130 or C5 or C-17 with enough salt to blanket the known poppy and coca fields and I am sure that the drug problem will dry up like a prune in the noon day sun. This ones a freebie!!
Next piece will cost ya Uncle.
While I am completely in favor of completely dismantling our War on Drugs infrastructure, I hope that those interested, for example, in marijuana decriminalization will not use the demonization of other drugs that millions of people use responsibly, and rely upon to mainain their functionality, in order to advance the cause of decriminalizing their drug of choice.
So there's a guy who's strung out on heroin. He needs help. What do you propose? 60 days in rehab just so he can fall back into use within 6 mos? While again feeding the black market, risking unemployment, becoming a felon, gambling on the quality of the heroin he buys, risking overdose?
How about he goes under the care of a physician who can prescribe proper dosages of clean heroin? The guy isn't worried about any legal issues because we have become a compassionate country that sees addiction as a medical issue, not a criminal one. Now that this guy is under supervised care, he no longer has to deal with the black market and criminals to feed his addiction. The doctor can help him reduce the dosage over time, all the while he's going through therapy to reduce or eliminate his addiction. No one gets hurt, the guy can lead a healthier and productive life while dealing with his medical problem.
That said, I do agree that the "war" is not going to work. We need to treat drug use as a sleazy public health issue, making it both treatable and less popular.
I really doubt that pregnant women will enjoy smoking pot. I was a regulal, long term smoker when I got pregnant with my first child in 1981. When first I knew I was pregnant, I smoked it and started realizing it was making me feel really sick and paranoid. I Stopped for 20 years. Most women would not enjoy being prenant and stoned. I don't know ANYONE who smoked while pregnant or nursing.