Sunday, August 7, 2011

Opium Wars

Carel Edwards is the former head of the European Commission's Anti-Drug Policy Coordination Unit. His insightful blog - Opium Wars - is focused on the politics of the global drug war. Here is an except from his latest post:

How long will it take for our feeble and election-hungry politicians to take their eyes off the economy and to recognise that the bells are tolling for traditional prohibition of drugs and for the UN Conventions on drugs, at least in their present form. If they persist in "fighting" rather than regulating and reducing the side effects, we should expect a gradual slide into a form of society in which organised crime plays a major part in mainstream politics and in ordinary people's lives. Try to explain that to your children.

LEAP is fortunate to have him as a member of our advisory board!

5 comments:

  1. A welcome addition indeed! Thank you for bringing him to my attention, Dave.

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  2. I can’t recall if this is from a marketing campaign (probably), but I’m thinking something could be written pointing out that “once I tried drug policy reform, I haven’t gone back to being a drug warrior.” Or something like that.

    Kind of like, once I tried Macs, I could never use Microsoft again. :-) Or once I started using Tom’s of Maine products I could never go back to non-all-natural products.

    Or, even though three lefts do make a right, you’re still one street behind where you’d have been if you’d just gone right in the first place! :-)

    I know this might not be the best place to type up my idea, but perhaps a marketing video with y’all, one by one, like a testimonial type advertisement of “man on the street.” “Yeah, I tried arresting as many people as I could. Didn’t work.” “I was a Drug Warrior once. Then I learned a better way to keep drugs out of the hands of kids.” and so forth. “I was the head of the European Commission’s Anti-Drug Policy Coordination Unit from 2003 to 2010. [Then I learned about] harm reduction and decriminalization, which is possibly the least bad option short of legalization. [Now I’m a convert. We must legalize all drugs …]"

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  3. Kudos and a HUGE welcome to Carel Edwards and everyone else new to LEAP and sharing the message to Legalize aqnd Regulate ALL Drugs - ALL around the World!

    Thank U again to everyone who has helped us spread this information across the globe!

    Love and a SERIOUS Squish,


    Alison Myrden
    Retired Law Enforcement Officer
    Speaker for LEAP
    Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
    http://www.leap.cc

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  4. Just a quick FYI, it seems Mr. Edwards either has a new blog, or has moved it. I just ran across this one: dodowars.

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