Today we see an increase in the number of women around the world actively taking on leadership roles and advocacy positions to use their voice to speak up for other women.
Cocaine in 1859; heroin in 1888 – and a ban introduced in 1929. Now, however, times are changing – and more compassionate policies are taking root.
My experience working with the families of death row inmates has shown me just how problematic this legislation really is.
This is the reality of the ‘war on drugs’: children dying alone because of shame and stigma, escalating incarceration of women, and violent enforcement centred on the global south.
“If your morality doesn’t look at the actual practical effects of what you’re doing, it’s not a moral debate, it’s just posturing.”
In France, there are many ways in which the pool of violence caused by drug prohibition bleeds into home-grown jihadism. But there is an alternative. Listen to a recorded audio version of this article.
That’s the question asked by the governor of the biggest opium-producing state in Mexico – a state which, unsurprisingly, is also one of the most violent.
In September 2013, Miguel Ángel Durrels was arrested in Buenos Aires province for marijuana possession. 12 hours later he was found dead in the local police station. His sister has serious doubts that he committed suicide. Español
The global crackdown on drugs has spurred violence akin to war in some Latin American countries. But the world’s historically powerful countries are still reluctant to confront a problem they don’t recognise as their own. Español
Only then will the public begin to see the human face of repressive policies and the lives destroyed in the pursuit of an impossible ‘drug-free world’.
Our challenge is to maintain momentum: that the UN General Assembly Special Session is used as a springboard for action rather than obstacle to implementing evidence and rights-based drug policies.
Across the world, women are being incarcerated at an alarming rate for drug offences. The vast majority are single mothers, and facing situations of extreme poverty.
