When former mayor Philip Owen was pushing drug policy reform in this city, he likely never thought he'd need kidnapping and ransom insurance to spread the message across the globe. But three years after leaving municipal politics, Owen and wife Brita are preparing for a trip to Afghanistan where he's been invited to participate in the Kabul International Symposium on Global Drug Policy in late September. It's organized by the Senlis Council, a European-based drug policy think tank formed in 2002. [continues 680 words]
Afghan farmers could from next year be able to grow opium for legal medicinal purposes, under an innovative plan designed to curb illegal production being drawn up by a drug policy think-tank. The Senlis Council, a group that studies narcotics, is in preliminary talks with international organisations and Afghan regional administrations to garner their support for pilot programmes designed to tackle the country's problem with opium by using it to produce the legal painkillers codeine and morphine. The council, due to present in September a feasibility study funded by a dozen European social policy foundations, calculates that Afghan farmers and intermediaries could receive revenues from the scheme that almost match their current earnings from unauthorised opium production for smuggling abroad. [continues 268 words]
KOLKATA, India - Cancer was slowly killing an old man in his fourth-floor apartment, and as the disease spread from organ to bone, sharp pains stabbed at his very core. A clear, oblong patch was stuck to Shyam Sundar Nevatia's chest, just above his weakening heart, gradually releasing a 25-milligram dose of opium-based narcotic over three days. The medication was no match for the relentless pain as death drew near. Nevatia's doctor had prescribed more powerful morphine pills, but the 74-year-old businessman's family checked at hospitals and pharmacies, and even on the black market, without finding any. [continues 886 words]
EVEN as Afghanistan's immense opium harvest feeds lawlessness and instability, finances terrorism and fuels heroin addiction, the developing world is experiencing a severe shortage of opium-derived pain medications, according to the World Health Organization. Developing countries are home to 80 percent of the world's population, but they consume just 6 percent of the medical opioids. In those countries, most people with cancer, AIDS and other painful conditions live and die in agony. The United States wants Afghanistan to destroy its potentially merciful crop, which has increased sevenfold since 2002 and now constitutes 60 percent of the country's gross domestic product. But why not bolster the country's stability and end both the pain and the trafficking problems by licensing Afghanistan with the International Narcotics Control Board to sell its opium legally? [continues 787 words]
The Senlis Council An international drug-policy think tank welcomed Canada's long-awaited move toward reforming cannabis laws, saying we're a step closer to addressing problems related to our ineffective and costly policies. The proposed legislation would amend the Contraventions Act and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, so that casual cannabis smokers and young people caught with less than 15 grams of marijuana would not face a jail sentence or a criminal record, but would receive a fine of $150 for adults and $100 for youth. However, penalties for the possession of larger quantities will be harsher than before. [continues 153 words]
Electing a Conservative government would be a huge step backwards for Canadian drug policy, according to an international think-tank. The Senlis Council said Friday that a Conservative victory in Monday's federal election would blunt the innovative approaches Canada has taken to combat the effects of illegal drug use. The organization said the harm reduction measures such as the needle exchange and safe injection sites in Vancouver were examples of progressive steps supported by the federal Liberal government. The Senlis Council argued a Conservative government would not support harm reduction policies, nor would it decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. [continues 89 words]
VIENNA: A controversy has erupted here over stemming the use of drug money to fund terrorism after the Madrid attacks, with a European think-tank saying UN policies were fuelling the problem instead of fighting it. Members of the Network of European Foundation's (NEF) Comite de Sages on Wednesday said by seeking to prohibit drugs the United Nations was creating a profitable black market for them. "This regime fosters terrorism because it provides the funds for terrorism and it endangers international security," NEF member Sir Keith Morris, a former British ambassador to Colombia, told a press conference. [continues 542 words]
