Ex-president slams Brazil's tough anti-drug bill

Agence France-Presse (AFP)
The Daily Star (Lebanon)
Wednesday, December 26, 2012

fernando-henriqueA bill calling for tougher sentences for drug possession and mandatory internment of addicts in Brazil has drawn fire from ex-president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, a strong advocate of drug decriminalization. "Treating drug use as a police case is useless and disastrous," he said in an interview with the daily O Globo. "Mandatory internment (of addicts) has been internationally condemned as inefficient, stigmatizing and a violation of human rights," said Cardoso who was in office from 1995 to 2002.