Time for a truce in Asia’s war on drugs

New International Drug Policy Consortium research indicates that the United Nations' drug strategy has been a “colossal failure” over the past decade - and Asian nations are getting it badly wrong
Asia Times (Thailand)
Saturday, November 3, 2018

Global attitudes on narcotic drugs are changing, but the shift has come too late for those caught up in Asia’s past decade of misguided and often lethal anti-drug campaigns. Over the past ten years, governments have applied questionable, if not counter-productive, tactics to decrease the use and distribution of drugs, often in so-called “war on drugs” campaigns. According to a new report, Taking Stock, by the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), a global network of 177 NGOs that work on issues related to drug production, drug use, and trafficking, the 10-year United Nations (UN) drug strategy has been a “colossal failure.”