Today on the Morning call, we discuss international drug policy with focus on the legalization of Marijuana. According to Dr Khalid Tinatsi, the Executive Secretary of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, during a discussion on the decriminalization of drug use at a diplomatic dinner in Vienna, where the United Nations’ drug control entities sit, a Central African representative said that “African countries cannot decriminalize, because only criminals use drugs, and use them to have the courage to do their criminal deeds”.
'Africa’s time to shape international drug policy'- Khalid Tinasti [The Morning Call]
Explaining further in his piece ‘Africa’s time to shape international drug policy’- Dr Tinatsi said the diplomat contrasted the continent with Europe, where he claimed people use drugs because they have access to everything – jobs and leisure,. “In African countries, people are not using drugs, and those who use them need to be punished”, Dr Tinatsi’s quote of the Central African diplomat reads in his piece.
Now the drug policy watchdog’s chief’s piece on ‘Africa’s time to shape international drug policy’ adds to the growing calls for calls for decriminalization of drug use on the continent and a radical policy rethink to curb instability caused by an increase in narcotics trade.
With us on the show was Michel Kazatchkine responding in particular to questions on the legalization of the use of Marijuana.