UN calls on countries urgently to legalize drugs
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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The UN Global Commission recommends that countries experiment with the legal regulation of certain types of drugs that are permissible for possible legalization, in order to combat drug trafficking, the UN June report on relevant issues notes.
The document speaks of a significant increase in global drug markets, which are controlled by criminal structures. In particular, cocaine sales in the world increased by 27% from 1998 to 2008. Over the same period, opium sales increased by 34.5%, and cannabis - by 8.5%.
Thus, the measures taken to combat drug trafficking and the spread of the potion do not yield tangible results, the report says.
As one of the measures of the struggle of mankind with the criminal drug markets, the commission invited the governments of the countries to carry out experiments with the legalization of certain types of narcotic substances, for example, hemp. Such a legalized control over its spread can nullify the impact of organized crime, according to the UN.
"Put an end to the criminalization, social exclusion and condemnation of people who use drugs but do not harm other people." Support the pilot models of governments on the legal regulation of drugs, whose purpose is to undermine the power of organized crime, protect and protect people's health, "the report says. .
"These recommendations are mainly related to cannabis, but we also call for other experiments and legal regulations that will give results and will be models for others," the commission said.
In conclusion, she urges countries to "urgently" take new measures to combat drugs. The Commission notes that countries spend billions of dollars on their anti-drug programs that do not work, with millions of people being sent to prison not by necessity, millions more addicted to drugs, and thousands died of overdoses.
The United Nations commission that prepared the report included former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Greek Prime Minister, former Presidents of Switzerland, Mexico, Colombia and Brazil.
Earlier in the UN, it was claimed that Russia was the world's top heroin user, accounting for 21% of the world's heroin production and 5% of all opium-containing drugs. Opiates, especially heroin, in Russia, Russia, use up to 90% of all drug addicts, and all of it is of exclusively Afghan origin. The number of opiate users is estimated at 1.68 million.
The introduction of responsibility for drug use in Russia, including the use of compulsory treatment as a primary or alternative type of punishment, will help to reduce the number of drug addicts by at least half in three years, the head of the Federal Service for Drug Control of the Russian Federation, Viktor Ivanov, said in May.