Pubdate: Fri, 18 Apr 2003
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2003 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456

WAR ON DRUGS QUESTIONED

VIENNA, Austria -- A group of European policymakers and nongovernmental
organizations said yesterday the United Nations' war on drugs was doomed to
fail, and called instead for decriminalizing drug use.

They said narcotics should be treated like alcohol and tobacco -- legal, but
under state health controls.

"The war on drugs cannot be won because it is a war on human nature," Sir
Keith Morris, former British ambassador to Colombia, told a news conference
called during a meeting of U.N. anti-drugs agencies. "History shows that no
society ever existed which was `drug-free.'"

Activists at the news conference said the United Nations' hard-line
opposition to liberalizing drug use was too extreme to work.

"In the five years since the U.N. launched its war on drugs, the numbers
show the use of all the major drugs has increased ... as well as
drug-related deaths from overdose and HIV/AIDS," said Marco Cappato, an
Italian member of the European Parliament

While the U.N. agrees that the use of drugs is still rising five years after
launching its formal war, "efforts to reduce abuse of illicit drugs have
shown signs of progress," said Antonio Maria Costa, director of the U.N.
Office on Drugs and Crime.

The progress Costa outlined in a report this week included a reduction in
the areas cultivating opium poppy for heroin and coca plants for cocaine.
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