Politics

The authors of the Johns Hopkins-Lancet Commission on Public Health and International Drug Policy call for non-violent minor drug offenses including use, possession, and petty sale, to be decriminalized.

“It’s time for us to rethink our approach to global drug policies, and put scientific evidence and public health at the heart of drug policy discussions.” “The goal of prohibiting all use, possession, production, and trafficking of illicit drugs is the basis of many of our national drug laws, but these policies are based on…

READ MORE
Politics

Legalize it all: How to win the war on drugs

“We’re confronted now with the fact that the U.S. cannot enforce domestically what it promotes elsewhere,” a member of the U.N.’s International Narcotics Control Board, which monitors international compliance with the conference’s directives, told me. ​When the [United Nations] General Assembly convenes [in April 2016], it also will have to contend with the startling fact…

READ MORE
Politics

Kratom, health supplement targeted by FDA…

“Regulation before prohibition is the answer,” says Susan Ash, a founder of the American Kratom Association in Virginia, who says she uses the herb three times a day to treat pain and lethargy from chronic Lyme disease. ​ Ash says the product should be restricted to adults, the supplement’s packaging should carry warning labels and…

READ MORE