Helen Clark calls War on Drugs a failure

Saturday, 16 March 2013, 12:27 pm
Press Release: Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party

The Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party is welcoming comments from Helen Clark that criminalisation of drugs creates more problems than it solves.

Former PM Clark is the head of the UN Development Programme and her comments to Reuters news agency could encourage Latin American countries to end the War on Drugs.

"The countries in the region that have been ravaged by the armed violence associated with drug cartels are starting to think laterally about a broad range of approaches and they should be encouraged to do that, they should act on evidence," Helen Clark said.

"There is increasing evidence that the war on drugs has failed, with criminalisation often creating more problems than it solves. To deal with drugs as a one-dimensional, law-and-order issue is to miss the point."

ENDS

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