A New Convention

1. A New Convention Amanda Feilding, Beckley Foundation

2. Flesh of the gods: Drugs and the Divine • ‘Flesh of the gods’ (Psilocybin) • ‘Sacred medicine’ (Peyote) • ‘The divine food’ (Qat, Ancient Egyptians) • ‘Vine of the soul’ (Ayahuasca) • ‘The sacred leaf’ (Coca) • ‘Food of the gods’ (Cannabis, early Indians)

3. Birth of Drug Control Conventions • 1909 International Opium Commission • 1912 Hague Opium Convention • 1925 International Opium Convention • 1936 Geneva Convention for the Suppression of the Illicit Traffic in Dangerous Drugs • 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs • 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances • 1988 Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances

4. Beginnings of the Prohibitionist Approach: The 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs • Signed by 73 countries • Designed to eradicate coca, opium and cannabis: i)production and cultivation; ii) trade and distribution iii) possession and consumption • At the heart of global criminalising approach • Drafted and signed in an entirely different social and political context from today

5. Negative Consequences • This approach has: i) generated a vast criminal underworld; ii) undermined public health, human rights, international security and development; iii) wasted billions of pounds each year on programmes of eradication and incarceration. • A major proportion of drug-related harms is caused directly by the policy of prohibition, rather than by the drugs themselves.

6. Negative Consequences... • It has created a criminal market of $320 billion a year, destabilising countries through violence & corruption. • Since 2006, over 35,000 killed within Mexico’s War on Drugs. • Despite the US & UK spending over $76 billion a year fighting the Taliban and their drug operations, 90% of UK illegal heroin remains Afghan. The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is worth over $4 billion a year. • It has produced the ‘balloon effect’, eg. South-East Asia and the Andes.

7. Imprisonment and Discrimination • 10 million in prison worldwide for drugs. • In 2009 the US had 1.6 million drug-related offences, of which 1.35 million were for drug possession alone. Over 850,000 were arrested for marijuana (most for mere possession). • African Americans compromise 14% of regular drug users in the US, BUT 37% of those arrested for drug offences and 57% of those incarcerated for drug crimes.

8. Evaluation • Lack of any evaluation in UN, USA etc. • NGOs such as the Beckley Foundation and TNI started research into evaluation and published results; pressurising the UN to do the same. • It is impossible to estimate accurately the costs of the War on Drugs.

9. Cannabis: The Elephant in the Room • Represents 80% of all drug-related crime • 4.4% of the world’s population use cannabis, whereas only 1% use all other illegal drugs combined • Without cannabis to uphold it, the War on Drugs would collapse • The Beckley Foundation Global Cannabis Commission Report

10. Time for Change • According to all indices the War on Drugs has failed. • It is time to rethink our priorities: • To have new evidence-based policies based on harm-reduction and health. • It is time to count the costs and consider new approaches