A DECADE ago, a meeting of United Nations member states was focused on creating a "drug-free" world.
Next April, when the UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs (UNGASS) meets again in New York, there is expected to be a push to rethink that approach.
A recent briefing paper from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime called for the possession and use of all drugs to be decriminalised by governments, although it later insisted it did not represent the UN's official position.
The UNGASS meeting, originally scheduled to take place in 2019, was brought forward at the request of the presidents of Colombia, Mexico and Guatemala – countries which are home to the world's major drug trafficking cartels.
Neil Woods is chairman of campaign group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) UK, which is due to formally launch next year ahead of the UN summit.
The former detective sergeant, who worked undercover in England in drugs enforcement, said: "Mexico is in a state of complete chaos and it is literally the control of drug dealers which has done that to the country.
"People might feel very secure from that corruption in this country, but as an undercover police officer I saw that up close – to the extent I even had a spy in my back up team. I was infiltrated by the very gangsters I was trying to infiltrate.
"That kind of corruption can only be possible because of the amount of money involved in the criminal supply of drugs."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel