[Lnc-business] UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs trying to hide crumbling consensus behind global Prohibition

[Starchild]

	A paper by Harry Levine of the libertarian Independent Institute in the early 2000s points out that few people realize that 100% of the countries in the world (well, presumably meaning 100% of those recognized by the United Nations) have drug prohibition:

> "For much of its history, global drug prohibition has had very few critics. Even today, despite the impressive growth of the harm-reduction movement and of drug policy reform activities in many countries, the regime of worldwide drug prohibition still has very few explicit opponents. One reason for the lack of organized opposition to global drug prohibition is that very few people actually know that it exists. In effect, global drug prohibition has operated for many years as a kind of official secret. Its existence was on a 'need to know basis,' and most people, it seems, did not need to know. Hence, for most of its history, drug prohibition rarely has been called by that name. This nonuse of the phrase drug prohibition has occurred even though (and perhaps because) alcohol prohibition was always called prohibition, especially by the people in favor of it. Sometimes this prohibition on the use of the phrase drug prohibition has been enforced by prominent publications and government agencies as they tell contributors and grant recipients that they may not use the term. Because hardly anybody knows that global drug prohibition exists, hardly anybody opposes it. Furthermore, even fewer people currently understand that by ending or even modifying the Single Convention of 1961, the question of national drug policy can be returned to individual countries and then to local governments to do with as they wished."
( http://www.independent.org/pdf/tir/tir_07_2_levine.pdf )

	But the tide is clearly shifting. Dozens of countries have been moving toward decriminalization, and last year, over a dozen former presidents and prime ministers of various countries (including Jimmy Carter of the United States) along with many other prominent individuals, over 1,000 international leaders in all, signed an open letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, stating in part, 

> "A growing number of city, state and national governments no longer treat drug use and possession as crimes.  Some are beginning to legally regulate cannabis for medical and even non-medical purposes. Many more recognize the need to make essential medicines readily available, especially for pain and palliative care in lower income countries.  But far greater and more systemic reforms are essential." 
( http://www.drugpolicy.org/ungass2016 )

	Today March 14, an anti-prohibitionist ally at the Drug Policy Foundation, Doug McVay, has reported that those controlling the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs meeting taking place in Vienna this week are resorting to increased secrecy in an effort to keep word from getting out about the proceedings, both because prohibitionist policies are increasingly under fire, and also because representatives of governments seeking to maintain these policies are making absurd and discredited arguments that would be widely mocked if publicized:

>> From: "Doug McVay (dougmcvay[at]gmail.com)" <owner-dpfca at drugsense.org>
>> Date: March 14, 2017 at 8:00:25 PM PDT
>> Subject: DPFCA: To folks at the Commission on Narcotic Drugs meeting in Vienna
>> 
>> Hello Friends,
>> I used to gripe about UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs only doing a live
>> webcast of the first 3 days of its annual meeting. Not this year. This year
>> CND only did a webcast of the first day. Still only available live, copies
>> are not archived.
>> 
>> This is an outrage. It's 2017. CND is a UN commission based in Vienna, it
>> has the technology and resources. They choose to not make an archive
>> available.
>> 
>> Apparently CND wants to go about its business without interference from
>> public or press outside of Vienna. CND sucks.
>> 
>> There are member nations calling for reform, voicing dissent at the highest
>> levels. CND would rather that people outside the UN Center in Vienna not
>> hear -- literally -- that dissent, because that's evidence that the
>> institution of prohibition is crumbling. There are other nations trying to
>> prop up prohibition with arguments that were discredited years ago. CND
>> also wants to prevent people outside Vienna from hearing that dreck because
>> if they do then people will mock it, and deservedly so.
>> 
>> Most reformers know that. Some of us have been involved directly in
>> international efforts and have first-hand experience, and those people and
>> organizations have reported on that progress so some in the public are
>> aware of it. Thanks to a handful of activists and journalists, there are
>> some video and audio recordings to prove those facts to that part of the
>> public who won't just take my or DPA's or Open Society Foundation's word
>> for something. (It's one thing to have heard about the emperor's new
>> clothes, it's another to see the evidence.)
>> 
>> So, to my friends and associates who are there in Vienna this week
>> attending CND: please, get as much audio and video as you can of the
>> proceedings and the side events. It's more important this year than ever.
>> 
>> Use your smartphones, your tablets, your laptops, your cameras. Document
>> everything. If you have Facebook you can probably even stream it live.
>> Coordinate with Hungarian Civil Liberties Union - HCLU/ Drugreporter to be
>> sure and cover anything they can't get to. (And it's even okeh to make a
>> redundant copy -- think of it as a backup.) And please share those copies
>> widely. I can definitely help with distribution. We cannot allow the
>> official record of this week-long series of meetings to be only what CND
>> dictates.
>> 
>> Thanks. Safe travels, everyone.
>> 
>> Cheers,
>> Doug
>> 
>> -- 
>> Doug McVay
>> Editor, Drug War Facts
>> Board Member, Common Sense for Drug Policy
>> Advisory Council Member, Students for Sensible Drug Policy
>> Host/Producer, Century Of Lies
>> Host/Producer, Free Culture Radio
>> www.drugwarfacts.org
>> www.drugtruth.net/cms/views/latest_col
>> www.kboo.fm/freeculture
>> cel: 717.940.2154
>> twitter: @dougmcvay and @drugpolicyfacts
>> skype: dougmcvay
>> 
>> "Until we are all free, we are none of us free."
>> -- Emma Lazarus

	
	This growing sentiment to end the global "War on Drugs" foisted on the rest of the world by the U.S. government, as more and more people recognize that drug abuse is a health issue, not a criminal issue, is cause for optimism and redoubling our efforts as major reform is within reach. Libertarians have long championed the freedom of people to control what goes into their own bodies. With the facade of global Prohibition showing cracks, now is the time to drive home the libertarian message that the persecution of people for the peaceful manufacture, transportation, sale, or use of any drug must end.

Love & Liberty,
                                 ((( starchild )))
At-Large Representative, Libertarian National Committee
                               (415) 625-FREE
                                 @StarchildSF
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://hq.lp.org/pipermail/lnc-business/attachments/20170315/20f974a7/attachment-0001.html>