Bernie Sanders Joins Latin American Leaders in Call for End to Drug War teleSUR
go to original April 14, 2016

Bernie Sanders on The War On Drugs (Bernie Sanders For President)

Over 1,000 world leaders, celebrities and activists have labelled the United Nation’s war on drugs as "disastrous" and urged the body to instigate “real reform of global drug control policy” in a letter sent to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders joined several former Latin American heads of state in signing the letter, among them Brazil's Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Colombia's Cesar Gaviria, Chile's Richard Lagos, and Mexico's Ernesto Zedillo and Vincente Fox. The letter was sent just a few days before the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the World Drug Problem.

“The drug control regime that emerged during the last century has proven disastrous for global health, security and human rights,” it states. “(The war on drugs) focused overwhelmingly on criminalization and punishment, it created a vast illicit market that has enriched criminal organizations, corrupted governments, triggered explosive violence, distorted economic markets and undermined basic moral values."

“Humankind," the letter continued, "cannot afford a 21st century drug policy as ineffective and counterproductive as the last century’s.”

The letter was described as “unprecedented” by Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance.

Read the rest at teleSUR

Related: Vatican Says Pope Francis Has No Plans to Meet with Democratic Presidential Candidate When He Speaks at a Vatican Conference (Israel National News)

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