This is a very positive sign…
Leaked paper reveals UN split over war on drugs
Major international divisions over the global “war on drugs” have been revealed in a leaked draft of a UN document setting out the organisation’s long-term strategy for combating illicit narcotics.
The draft, written in September and seen by the Observer, shows there are serious and entrenched divisions over the longstanding US-led policy promoting prohibition as an exclusive solution to the problem.
Instead, a number of countries are pushing for the “war on drugs” to be seen in a different light, which places greater emphasis on treating drug consumption as a public health problem, rather than a criminal justice matter.
It is rare for such a document to leak. Normally only the final agreed version is published once all differences between UN member states have been removed.
What’s telling is not only the divisions in the early draft, but the fact that there was a leak. Usually, drug policy reps from countries want to show a united front to the world. Somebody was willing to cause a stir.
And in reading the article, it’s fascinating that there quite a range of countries objecting to drug war business as usual for a number of reasons.
Just look at the comments under the article. We (the public at large through the direct, unfiltered medium of the internet) have torn the lace veil from the face of face of prohibition. And shown that we understand her for the diseased, vile bitch she is. I don’t wonder at this for a second. Somebody was waiting for this opportunity to show the schisms. It’s about time.
The reason this was leaked was to assure that the story would not be buried/hidden.
Here’s a great comment from the link:
“It’s not just about taking the supply of drugs off the narcoterrorists but stoping the huge amount of tax payers money wasted funding the drug treatment industry . Of course there needs to be rehabilitation provision for people wanting it-but the idea that everyone who takes drugs has underlying issues and needs to be counselled by someone who thinks they have a ‘therapeutic magic wand’ is utterly ridiculous .The (tax payer funded) drug treatment industry in this country is simply a job creation scheme and the private treatment system ,particularly the 12 step rehabs, are mostly run by money grabbing individuals ‘ in recovery’ but not averse to fleecing people who have got more money than sense.”
here’s a story that might interest our friends in WA state: http://tinyurl.com/pf5xveq junior narks. scary!
Hey thelbert – They already have a program like that…
I remember -years ago- finding out someone in my circle of friends, made an acquaintance of one of these folks.
The dude was allegedly a HS Senior, He hung around for awhile part of a semester & a summer – then essentially disappeared, this was (rather conspicuously) shortly after being seen in a group picture of these “Explorer” youth-groups was in the local newspaper.
I saw the kid/guy around a year or so later in a public place – and did my best to politely blow him off (figuratively) – Specifically, his questions about where so-and-so had been/was/were now, how I was doing, etc.
There was an outside chance he wasn’t the guy from the picture in the newspaper (a HIMYM-style “doppleganger”, or a brother, a cousin, or something?) But, the core handful of people that circle of friends – decided it was better to err on the side of caution in that instance.
Most of us lost touch anyway within the next year or two. Pretty much all of us were restaurant employees, or in other “service industry” jobs, and when our employment changed – meeting up after work (LATE), to watch Jerry Springer (and the like = Montel maybe?), toke, play cards, and whatnot… just wasn’t feasible anymore, and AFAIK everyone moved away before too long.
Sorry, about the rabbit chasing/story-telling there (My Bad) = Still FWIW as a “heads-up” for yah. YES, there really ARE “Junior Narcs” out there, I couldn’t recall the name of the program – turns out its semi-connected to the Boy Scouts!
Law Enforcement Exploring (also known as Police Explorers)
They might do better to NOT put their award ceremonies from *Whatever* and (IIRC) partial scholarship winners – for that year – In the Freaking NEWSPAPERS! – this was back in like 99′ or so… They might have figured that out by now.
Maybe they didn’t think people would see what looked like a small “Class-Picture” of sorts and realize the young-people in the pics weren’t going by the names written in the articles – under the photos!
And more On Topic, once the Central & South American countries refuse to accept anymore pay-offs (Deciding they’re not worth all the thousands of deaths & general anarchy “in their backyards” – so to speak), then it will break into a big chorus of:
“We don’t need no, Eradication…
No dark beheadings in the Graveyards…”
i knew about explorer scouts being used as informers. that’s how policy wonks get their start. scouts have an oath that includes being trustworthy and loyal. narks not so much.
Thel, they do this all the time here. They use police explorers to “sting” bars, Store Clerks, tobacco shops…and anything else they can think of. They will sometimes send three different kids into the same store at different times of the day, fishing for the one time the clerk may forget to I.D..
I find the practice abominable, and am appalled by the number of fellow Washingtonians who support the practice. I have never supported the police using illegal/unlawful/criminal or underhanded/coercive tactics to “catch the bad guys”. If we want justice to prevail and be applied equally to all, we need to make certain the laws are, also, always obeyed by those charged with making (yes, I mean councilors legislators and congress members), and enforcing the law (cops, prosecutors, and judges). None of them should be allowed to break the law with impunity, not in case of cops doing it in order to enforce a law; anything which a non-cop would be prosecuted for committing should cause a cop to be prosecuted just as forcefully when s/he does it (assaulting people and stealing their money/possessions is against the law).
The case of Patrick Dorismond was one of those early cases that fueled my fire (also listed in Pete’s drug war victims page). The undercover cop was trying to sell to Patrick. A real wtf approach to “getting drugs off the street.”
looks like the pierce county council needs to get some civics learnin’ about the ninth and tenth amendments: http://tinyurl.com/od5vr97
The UN can no longer ignore the international prohibition problem; not while simultaneously wielding a human rights campaign in other areas of international politics and law. The next few years will see an unprecedented expansion of international humanitarian law in the EU, and at the UN’s ICC, addressing worldwide incidents of repression, torture and genocide.
British Barrister Geoffrey Robertson’s book, Crimes Against Humanity: The Struggle for Global Justice, describes the evolving status of UN politics regarding the current reach of international humanitarian law. Based on the information therein, it appears the Vatican is a primary advocate for drug prohibition at the United Nations. We can expect the Holy See (as they prefer to be called at the UN) to act as the fly in the ointment as sovereign nations search for saner drug policies.
Geoffrey Robertson participated in the prosecution of Pinochet, and he’s currently an acting counsel to Julian Assange. The impression gleaned from his book is that Mr. Robertson is anti-prohibition. He has nothing good to say about the Vatican’s membership in the UN, which came about during the Reagan administration.
Assange? You mean the Juliain “Vlad Putin’s useful idiot” Assange? Maybe you should research Putin’s stance on things like drug liberalisation, free speech and gay rights. I’m sorry but this “I support everyone against the West” mantra is starting to get old. Don’t get me wrong – I am 100% anti-prohibition. But I am also 100% pro-west. Being a conspiracy theorist isn’t helping the cause – it just helps to reinforce a very nasty stereotype related to pot. How are you people in Colorado and Washington enjoying your legalized pot, btw? I really wished that I lived such a forward thinking country…
Live by global support, die by global support.
Poetic justice lives on.
oh god this is so awesome!
pete, i was curious about ur comments on the toronto mayor and the marijuana raid in CO. i love how the mayors relative (who has a govt seat) during the mayors confession, was shouting out at one of his (the mayor) accusors, “sir have you ever smoked marijuana?” over an over. LOL! PERSONALLY i was very happy to see it, a politician sort of suggesting pot and crack were one of the same. (i do enjoy crack whenever i can afford it but my dope habit has to come first for health reasons.) anyway i love the leaked article!
(id say more but this keyboard is broke)
Anyone have a guess why they have not filled the drug czar position yet?
Anyone have a guess what the ONDCP budget will look like trying to buy enough politicians around the world and the US to keep the wall up?
i’d say fat and bloated, just like gil’s melon.
OT/
A Jail by Another Name-China Labor Camps Now Drug Detox Centers.
“Many of China’s re-education through labor camps, instead of being abolished in line with a ruling Communist Party announcement this month, are being turned into compulsory drug rehabilitation centers where inmates can be incarcerated for two years or more without trial.”
linky – http://nyti.ms/184jfPX
must make kevin (the fat controller) green with envy when he looks at china s version of smart approachs/ enforced treatment. any chance he might emigrate?
Repeat-post/reply from last thread, in case, like me, you don’t have “notifications” switched on.
I spend several weeks every year with friends who are hemp farmers in Ireland.
I sleep in a converted timber-frame barn with hemp walls and wooden floors. The experience is extremely positive. I guess it has something to do with hemp’s ability to keep humidity levels optimum.
Here’s the correct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyjshpRMyAo
The barn is on the left as you leave the polly-tunnel. The round house is also made of hemp.
I can see they used a stone or concrete footing and an overhanging roof to keep the walls dry (good boots and hat), like an adobe house….are you sure the good night’s rest and the “positive” experience is due to optimal humidity rather than the quiet country setting? I’m curious about anything to do with adobe, rammed earth, hempcrete, earth ships and general alternative building methods.
How does one turn on ‘notifications’?
I was going to ask the same question.
Now, there is an RSS feed for the comments (upper right corner of the page), so you can use a news reader or anything else that reads an RSS feed and get notification that way of all new comments. That may be the notifications that Malc referenced.
This one is dedicated to Kevin the Fat Controller and all the other Prohibitches:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be4IR7U18OA