La guerre aux drogues a échoué : Les médecins devraient appeler à une réforme de la politique des drogues

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La guerre aux drogues a échoué : Les médecins devraient appeler à une réforme de la politique des drogues

2 décembre 2016
British Medical Journal
Richard Hurley

Le British Medical Journal fait valoir que les preuves scientifiques et l’éthique devraient inspirer des politiques qui promeuvent la santé et le respect de la dignité, des domaines que les médecins devraient défendre.

Pour en savoir plus, en anglais, veuillez lire les informations ci-dessous.

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People have always consumed psychoactive substances, risking harm. A quarter of a billion adults—one in 20 worldwide—took an illegal drug such as cannabis, cocaine, or heroin in 2014. A quarter of UK 15 year olds are estimated to have ever taken an illegal preparation of unknown quality and potency, and most street sex work and much acquisitive crime funds drug taking.

Three United Nations treaties, the oldest from 1961, seek to “advance the health and welfare of mankind” by prohibiting the non-medical use of some drugs. To this end, countries criminalise producers, traffickers, dealers, and users at an annual cost of at least $100bn.

But the effectiveness of prohibition laws, colloquially known as the “war on drugs,” must be judged on outcomes. And too often the war on drugs plays out as a war on the millions of people who use drugs, and disproportionately on people who are poor or from ethnic minorities and on women.