Global Commission on Drug Policy
Encyclopedia
The Global Commission on Drug Policy was a 19-person panel which issued an assessment in 2011 of the global war against drugs, saying "it's an abject disaster" according to one report. The emphasis in drug policy
Drug policy
A drug policy most often refers to a government's attempt to combat the negative effects of drug addiction and misuse in its society. Governments try to combat drug addiction with policies which address both the demand and supply of drugs, as well as policies which can mitigate the harms of drug...

 on harsh law enforcement over four decades has not accomplished its goal of banishing drugs and had in fact had spawned wide, dramatic eruptions of violence, the report continued. By way of alternative, the GCDP report "advocates decriminalizing
Drug liberalization
Drug liberalization is the process of eliminating or reducing drug prohibition laws. Variations of drug liberalization include drug relegalization, drug legalization, and drug decriminalization -Policies:...

 drug use by those who do no harm to others."

The commission was formed to "bring to the international level an informed, science-based discussion about humane and effective ways to reduce the harm caused by drugs to people and societies. [It built] on the successful experience of the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy
Latin American Initiative on Drugs and Democracy
The Latin American Initiative on Drugs and Democracy in March, 2009, issued a report which "declared the war on drugs a failure," according to one commentator. The commentator drew parallels with the Prohibition in the United States and also reviewed signs of relaxing attitudes toward drugs...

."

Membership of the GCDP Board was:
  • Asma Jahangir
    Asma Jahangir
    Asma Jilani Jahangir is a leading Pakistani lawyer, advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, President Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan and human rights activist, who works both in Pakistan and internationally to prevent the persecution of religious minorities, women, and exploitation...

     (Pakistan
    Pakistan
    Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

    ), human rights activist, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Arbitrary, Extrajudicial and Summary Executions
  • Carlos Fuentes
    Carlos Fuentes
    Carlos Fuentes Macías is a Mexican writer and one of the best-known living novelists and essayists in the Spanish-speaking world. He has influenced contemporary Latin American literature, and his works have been widely translated into English and other languages.-Biography:Fuentes was born in...

     (Mexico
    Mexico
    The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

    ), writer and public intellectual
  • César Gaviria
    César Gaviria
    César Gaviria Trujillo is a Colombian politician and a Latin American statesman. He served as President of Colombia from 1990 to 1994, and Secretary General of the Organization of American States from 1994 until 2004.-Early life:...

     (Colombia
    Colombia
    Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

    ), former President of Colombia
    President of Colombia
    The President of Colombia is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Colombia. The office of president was established upon the ratification of the Constitution of 1819, by the Congress of Angostura, convened in December 1819, when Colombia was part of "la Gran Colombia"...

  • Ernesto Zedillo
    Ernesto Zedillo
    Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León is a Mexican economist and politician. He served as President of Mexico from December 1, 1994 to November 30, 2000, as the last of the uninterrupted seventy year line of Mexican presidents from the Institutional Revolutionary Party...

     (Mexico
    Mexico
    The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

    ), former President of Mexico
    President of Mexico
    The President of the United Mexican States is the head of state and government of Mexico. Under the Constitution, the president is also the Supreme Commander of the Mexican armed forces...

  • Fernando Henrique Cardoso
    Fernando Henrique Cardoso
    Fernando Henrique Cardoso – also known by his initials FHC – was the 34th President of the Federative Republic of Brazil for two terms from January 1, 1995 to December 31, 2002. He is an accomplished sociologist, professor and politician...

     (Brazil
    Brazil
    Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

    ), former President of Brazil
    President of Brazil
    The president of Brazil is both the head of state and head of government of the Federative Republic of Brazil. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the Brazilian Armed Forces...

     (chair)
  • George Papandreou
    George Papandreou
    Georgios A. Papandreou , commonly anglicised to George and shortened to Γιώργος in Greek, is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece following his party's victory in the 2009 legislative election...

     (Greece
    Greece
    Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

    ), former Prime Minister of Greece
    Prime Minister of Greece
    The Prime Minister of Greece , officially the Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic , is the head of government of the Hellenic Republic and the leader of the Greek cabinet. The current interim Prime Minister is Lucas Papademos, a former Vice President of the European Central Bank, following...

  • George P. Shultz
    George P. Shultz
    George Pratt Shultz is an American economist, statesman, and businessman. He served as the United States Secretary of Labor from 1969 to 1970, as the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury from 1972 to 1974, and as the U.S. Secretary of State from 1982 to 1989...

     (United States
    United States
    The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

    ), former Secretary of State
    United States Secretary of State
    The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...

     (honorary chair)
  • Javier Solana
    Javier Solana
    Francisco Javier Solana de Madariaga, KOGF is a Spanish physicist and Socialist politician. After serving in the Spanish government under Felipe González and Secretary General of NATO , he was appointed the European Union's High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Secretary...

     (Spain
    Spain
    Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

    ), former European Union
    European Union
    The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

     High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy
    High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
    The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy is the main co-ordinator and representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy within the European Union...

  • John C. Whitehead
    John C. Whitehead
    John Cunningham Whitehead is an American banker and civil servant, currently a board member of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation and, until his resignation in May 2006, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.-Biography:He was born in Evanston, Illinois...

     (United States
    United States
    The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

    ), banker and civil servant, chair of the World Trade Center Memorial
    World Trade Center Memorial
    - Fundraising :The Foundation has fundraising responsibilities because of the tasks assigned to it by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation...

  • Kofi Annan
    Kofi Annan
    Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...

     (Ghana
    Ghana
    Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

    ), former Secretary-General of the United Nations
  • Louise Arbour
    Louise Arbour
    Louise Arbour, is the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, a former justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and the Court of Appeal for Ontario and a former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda...

     (Canada
    Canada
    Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

    ), former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
    Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
    The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is a United Nations agency that works to promote and protect the human rights that are guaranteed under international law and stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948...

    , president of the International Crisis Group
    International Crisis Group
    The International Crisis Group is an international, non-profit, non-governmental organization whose mission is to prevent and resolve deadly conflicts around the world through field-based analyses and high-level advocacy.-History:...

  • Maria Cattaui (Switzerland
    Switzerland
    Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

    ), member of the Board, Petroplus Holdings
    Petroplus
    Petroplus Holdings AG is Europe's largest independent oil refiner.-History:When the company first formed in 1993 it was known as Petroplus International N.V. being based in the Netherlands. In 1997, it acquired the Antwerp N.V. Refinery from the Daewoo Group. In August 1998, it was listed on the...

    ; former Secretary-General of the International Chamber of Commerce
    International Chamber of Commerce
    The International Chamber of Commerce is the largest, most representative business organization in the world. Its hundreds of thousands of member companies in over 130 countries have interests spanning every sector of private enterprise....

  • Marion Caspers-Merk
    Marion Caspers-Merk
    Marion Caspers-Merk is a German politician and member of the SPD. She was a member of the Bundestag and Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Health. - External links :* * *...

     (Germany
    Germany
    Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

    ), former State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Health (Germany)
    Federal Ministry of Health (Germany)
    The Federal Ministry of Health, is a ministry of the German federal government...

  • Mario Vargas Llosa
    Mario Vargas Llosa
    Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquis of Vargas Llosa is a Peruvian-Spanish writer, politician, journalist, essayist, and Nobel Prize laureate. Vargas Llosa is one of Latin America's most significant novelists and essayists, and one of the leading authors of his generation...

     (Peru
    Peru
    Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

    ), writer and public intellectual, Nobel Prize laureate
  • Michel Kazatchkine
    Michel Kazatchkine
    Michel Kazatchkine is a French physician best known for his work in international AIDS treatment issues. Since February 2007 he has been director of the The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.-Professional history:...

     (France
    France
    The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

    ), executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
  • Paul Volcker
    Paul Volcker
    Paul Adolph Volcker, Jr. is an American economist. He was the Chairman of the Federal Reserve under United States Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan from August 1979 to August 1987. He is widely credited with ending the high levels of inflation seen in the United States in the 1970s and...

     (United States
    United States
    The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

    ), former Chairman of the Federal Reserve
    Chairman of the Federal Reserve
    The Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is the head of the central banking system of the United States. Known colloquially as "Chairman of the Fed," or in market circles "Fed Chairman" or "Fed Chief"...

     and of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board
  • Richard Branson
    Richard Branson
    Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English business magnate, best known for his Virgin Group of more than 400 companies....

     (United Kingdom
    United Kingdom
    The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

    ), entrepreneur, advocate for social causes, founder of the Virgin Group
    Virgin Group
    Virgin Group Limited is a British branded venture capital conglomerate organisation founded by business tycoon Richard Branson. The core business areas are travel, entertainment and lifestyle. Virgin Group's date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by Companies House, who class it as a holding...

    , co-founder of The Elders
    The Elders
    The Elders are a six-piece Irish American folk rock band, that formed in Kansas City, Missouri.The band has released six studio albums, The Elders, Pass It on Down, American Wake, Racing the Tide, Gael Day and Wanderin' Life & Times, as well as three live albums "The Best Crowd We Ever Had", "Live...

  • Ruth Dreifuss
    Ruth Dreifuss
    Ruth Dreifuss is a Swiss politician affiliated with the Social Democratic Party. She was a member of the Swiss Federal Council from 1993 to 2002, representing the Canton of Geneva)....

     (Switzerland
    Switzerland
    Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

    ), former President of Switzerland and Minister of Home Affairs
  • Thorvald Stoltenberg
    Thorvald Stoltenberg
    Thorvald Stoltenberg is a former Norwegian politician. His ancestors stem from Northern Germany and emigrated to Norway in the 17th century. He served as Minister of Defense and Minister of Foreign Affairs in two Labour governments.From 1989 to 1990 he was appointed Norwegian Ambassador to the UN...

     (Norway
    Norway
    Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

    ), former Minister of Foreign Affairs and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
    United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
    The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees , also known as The UN Refugee Agency is a United Nations agency mandated to protect and support refugees at the request of a government or the UN itself and assists in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to...


Immediate

Gabor Maté
Gábor Máté (physician)
Gabor Maté is a Hungarian-born Canadian physician who specializes in the study and treatment of addiction and is also widely recognized for his unique perspective on Attention Deficit Disorder and his firmly held belief in the connection between mind and body health.A sought-after speaker and...

, a Hungarian-Canadian physician who specializes in study and treatment of addiction, was interviewed on Democracy Now!
Democracy Now!
Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...

about the report.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

 wrote an op-ed
Op-ed
An op-ed, abbreviated from opposite the editorial page , is a newspaper article that expresses the opinions of a named writer who is usually unaffiliated with the newspaper's editorial board...

 in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

explicitly endorsing the recommendations of the commission, saying they were in line with the policies of his administration; and saying it was the policies of the succeeding Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

 administration which had moved U.S. policy so far toward punitive alternatives. Carter's piece elicited several published responses, including one from an analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy who drew attention to the current White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

 Office of National Drug Control Policy
Office of National Drug Control Policy
The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy , a former cabinet level component of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, was established in 1989 by the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988...

's immediate rejection of GCDP’s recommendations and defense of the 'balanced drug control efforts' of the U.S. federal government; and others which agreed and disagreed with Carter's views.

Brian Lehrer
Brian Lehrer
Brian Lehrer is a radio talk show host on New York City's public radio station WNYC. His daily two-hour 2007 Peabody Award-winning program, The Brian Lehrer Show, features interviews with newsmakers and experts about current events and social issues...

 had Ethan Nadelmann
Ethan Nadelmann
Ethan Nadelmann is the founder and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, a New York City-based non-profit organization working to end the War on Drugs. Described by Rolling Stone as, "the point man for drug-policy-reform efforts," Ethan Nadelmann is known as a high profile critic and...

, founder and director of the Drug Policy Alliance
Drug Policy Alliance
The Drug Policy Alliance is a New York City-based non-profit organization, led by executive director Ethan Nadelmann, with the principal goal of ending the American "War on Drugs"...

, on Lehrer's radio show to detail the GCDP report and how that might impact U.S. anti-drug policies.

Sir Ronald Sanders, a consultant and former Caribbean diplomat, wrote in favor of the recommendations and endorsement of President Carter's expressed views.

Extended

Peter Hakim
Peter Hakim
Peter Hakim is president emeritus and senior fellow of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based think tank on Western Hemisphere affairs. He served as president of the Dialogue from 1993 to 2010.- Professional :...

 prominently cited the GCDP report in an October, 2011, "rethinking [of] U.S. drug policy".

The Beckley Foundation
Beckley Foundation
The Beckley Foundation is a charitable trust that promotes health orientated cost effective harm reductive drug policy reform. It also investigates consciousness and its modulation from a multidisciplinary perspective working in collaboration with world renowned scientists. The Foundation is based...

's Global Initiative for Drug Policy Reform antedated the release of the GCDP report but integrated the GCPD into its November, 2011, British House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

 meetings. Professor Robin Room (University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...

) was preparing a "Rewriting the UN Drug Conventions Report" based on amendments to the UN drug control conventions of 1961
Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs
The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 is an international treaty to prohibit production and supply of specific drugs and of drugs with similar effects except under licence for specific purposes, such as medical treatment and research...

, 1971
Convention on Psychotropic Substances
The Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971 is a United Nations treaty designed to control psychoactive drugs such as amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, and psychedelics signed at Vienna on February 21, 1971...

 and 1988
United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances
The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988 is one of three major drug control treaties currently in force. It provides additional legal mechanisms for enforcing the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and the 1971 Convention on...

 for the Initiative; and Professor Stephen Pudney (Institute for Social and Economic Research) was preparing the "the first-ever Cost-benefit Analysis of the control of cannabis
Cannabis
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...

 through regulation and taxation in the UK" for it. Amanda Feilding
Amanda Feilding
Amanda Charteris, Countess of Wemyss and March, , is a British artist, scientist and drug policy reformer. She is scientific director and founder of the Beckley Foundation, a charitable trust...

 of the Foundation and other peers
Peerage of Great Britain
The Peerage of Great Britain comprises all extant peerages created in the Kingdom of Great Britain after the Act of Union 1707 but before the Act of Union 1800...

 led the effort and attracted some criticism for it.

Background papers

a/o 2011-11-25


According to the blog Sensi Seeds, "The Commission is now preparing another six papers covering its main areas of enquiry – the results of current drug-control measures, harm reduction and suggestions for improved policies. Naturally, more attention is focused on hard drugs due to the far greater damage associated with them; however, two of these papers will specifically address the issue of cannabis" legalization and decriminalization, including "Paper 4: Criminal justice challenges".
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