VIENNA (Reuters) - A United Nations campaign to cut supply and demand for illegal drugs has shown no progress globally in the decade since it was launched, a European Commission report said on Tuesday.
The U.N. General Assembly session (UNGASS) met 10 years ago to declare that it was time to really get serious about winning the drug war and this is what they have to show for their efforts.
Asked whether the UNGASS campaign had failed, Carel Edwards, head of the Commission's anti-drug unit, told a news conference: "This very clearly comes up with our conclusion that there is no indication that it has made any difference.
"We basically seem to be marking time on the spot," he said.
While a "world without drugs" was never part of the 1998 UNGASS declaration of intent, Edwards said, "nevertheless, at the time, there was an overwhelming publicity campaign that in 10 years we were going to lick this problem. (That) was naive."
Yeah, it was more than naïve. It is truly appalling to see world leaders completely divorced from reality. Regardless of ideology, drug policy is a serious issue and must be approached rationally.
Anyone who thought the world’s drug problem could be contained in 10 years’ time is not qualified to work on drug policy issues. Seriously, if this is the type of expert analysis we can expect from the UN, they might as well hand the job over to a group of randomly-selected idiots off the street.