Times: Give Peace a Chance. Forget the War on Drugs

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A fine pro-drug law reform op-ed appeared in the Times Yesterday titled: Give Peace a Chance. Forget the War on Drugs. by Anatole Kaletsky, taking his lead from this weeks UN report documenting the spectacular ongoing failure of the anti-drug efforts in Afghanistan. The piece concludes:

"All these observations point to a simple conclusion: simple, though not easy. The global war against drugs is in contradiction to the war against violent crime at home and the war against terrorism internationally. Legalising, or at least decriminalising, drugs would, not on its own, end terrorism or gang violence — and it is no substitute for long-term measures to promote development abroad or improve education at home. But a ceasefire in the war against drugs would at least give peace a chance — not only in Afghanistan, but also in the streets of Britain."

Excellent to see another staff writer on a major UK broadsheet getting their head around the need for reform. It increasingly leaves the shrill voices of prohibition (Hitchens, Phillips, Heffer etc) looking increasingly extreme, ideological and isolated.

There is an active debate going on in the 'have your say' section beneath the online article.