As New Zealand’s general election draws closer, some of the parliamentary candidates have been discussing drug policy after the 2017 Parliamentary Drug Policy Symposium was convened in early July by the NZ Drug Foundation to fuel debate on the subject.
Jeff Sessions intends to bring the United States back to the 1980s by ignoring empirical evidence and instead promoting outdated models of drug education and harsh penalties for drug crimes.
Public health programs like interventions to tackle teenage pregnancy, child obesity or sexually transmitted infections are in danger due to health budget cuts, according to the King's Fund.
The New Zealand Drug Foundation has proposed new drug laws that would decriminalise all drugs, and create a regulated cannabis market. Executive director Ross Bell outlines the foundation’s model drug law.
The bill, which would make personal possession of Schedule I and II drugs a misdemeanor instead of a felony, has already passed in the state house and senate.
In Asia, drug policies are used to erode human rights and silence dissenting voices. This adversarial relationship between the state and its citizens displaces the state's responsibility to protect its population.
