Pubdate: Tue, 22 Jul 2014
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
Copyright: 2014 Associated Newspapers Ltd
Contact:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/108

BRANSON CALLS FOR NEW WAY IN DRUGS WAR

Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson has used his address at the
international AIDS conference in Melbourne to once again call for an
alternative approach to prohibitionist drug laws.

Sir Richard, a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, which
in a 2011 report concluded that drug prohibition has been an abject
failure, said that while some countries have virtually eliminated
drug-related HIV transmissions, drug war policies in the US, Russia
and certain South East Asian countries are still causing needless
infections and AIDS deaths.

"There has been four decades of the so-called war on drugs and it has
done terrible things to societies everywhere," Sir Richard told
delegates at the International AIDS Conference on Tuesday via video
link.

"It's done damage to drug users, their families, their communities.
"It's time to put an alternative approach to the prohibitionist
framework that has been in effect and has been so ineffective for
decades now." Sir Richard said those who use drugs should be treated
with compassion, rather than being treated as criminals. "In Russia,
repressive drug laws fuel the HIV epidemic, and in South East Asia
people who use drugs are forced into compulsory treatment, which often
involves beatings and torture," he said.

"The US has just five per cent of the world's population, yet
disgracefully it has 25 per cent of the global prison population,
outstripping China and Iran; much of this is driven by the
imprisonment of low-level drug offenders, often from poor, black and
Hispanic communities."

He said money that is wasted on law enforcement would be better spent
on education and other initiatives.

"The UK has one of the highest GDP spends in Europe on drug law
enforcement and yet it has one of the highest rates of drug use in
western Europe," he said. "Looking at this as a businessman, I'd say
that's a pretty bad investment.

"It's time to try a new model."
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MAP posted-by: Matt