Cocaine

[davethebunny]

did anyone watch war on drugs on C4 last night?

We (the coalition) have bombed all these areas to destruction so that the only thing left to do is become involved in the drug production.

Then we drafted up some harsh penalties for those caught involved in the trade.
Even though Opium has been produced there for thousands of years.

Of course those who are caught are security guards and their ilk rather than anyone who is actually high up the food chain.

So we're hated by most of the general population.

[Tonsko]

Particularly poignant was the closing shots of some Afghan farmers, "We are paying the price for your addicts."

I missed the first 2, but they're still on 4OD.

[Derek Smith]

Tonsko said:

Nice link. Cheers Derek.

I was particularly fascinated by the Canadian response to the Vienna Declaration.

In essence the VD (couldn't resist) asked for countries to:

Undertake a transparent review of the effectiveness of current drug policies.

Implement and evaluate a science-based public health approach to address the individual and community harms stemming from illicit drug use.

Decriminalise drug users, scale up evidence-based drug dependence treatment options and abolish ineffective compulsory drug treatment centres that violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Unequivocally endorse and scale up funding for the implementation of the comprehensive package of HIV interventions spelled out in the WHO, UNODC and UNAIDS Target Setting Guide.

Meaningfully involve members of the affected community in developing, monitoring and implementing services and policies that affect their lives.

The only part that is contentious is the decriminalisation of drugs use, and possibly the increase in funding.

That said, you can't really blame the Canadians as they, even more than us, have to follow the USA lead. But even so three points are unarguable: the review of the effectiveness of current drug policies, a science-based public health approach to harm illicit drug use causes and to involve the drug community is dialogue on policies and procedures.