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What people say…

Decriminalisation had the desired effect of reducing drug-related arrests, while releasing resources and removing a barrier for problematic users to seek help.

Pavel Bemformer Mayor of Prague

The only way to think sensibly about drugs is to ensure that we pursue humane and ethical purposes: to keep people alive, allow for differences of view and choices and as far as possible, in every way, reduce the harm associated with drugs.

Margaret Hamilton AOProfessor

Drug enforcement in one region just leads to the emergence of production and supply in other regions.

Anand Groverformer UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health

Drug control measures cannot take precedence over health, safety, human welfare and well-being any longer. Our countries have suffered enough. The human costs are too high.

Cesar Gaviriaformer President of Colombia

The time has come for the international community to acknowledge the evidence, call for and deliver evidence-based harm reduction strategies of global scale to reduce HIV and hepatitis C infections, and so protect the health of people who use drugs.

Michel KazatchkineUN Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

I believe that drugs have destroyed many lives, but wrong government policies have destroyed many more. In what other areas of public health do we criminalise patients in need of help? Surely it cannot be the job of the criminal justice system to prescribe remedies to deal with public health concerns. This is the job of public health professionals.

Kofi Annanformer General Secretary of the United Nations (May 2015)

It is now well-established that the war on drugs has caused more suffering than the drug problem it was supposed to be tackling. The good news is the tide finally appears to be turning. Countries around the world are experimenting with new approaches, from decriminalisation to regulated markets. It’s an incredibly exciting time.

Nick Cleggformer UK Deputy Prime Minister

Despite all the resources spent by governments, the global drugs trade is now entirely controlled by violent criminal organisations.

Sir Richard Bransonbusinessman

I have no problem with the medical use of cannabis, just as I have no problem with the medical use of opiates.

The Hon Tony Abbott MPFormer Prime Minister of Australia

For social problems like these, law enforcement isn’t the answer. Ice has been on the scene for over a decade and we’ve had a really strong law enforcement approach and it hasn’t resolved the problem. The time’s right now to look at the other options.

Ken LayHead of the National Ice Taskforce, Former Victorian Police Commissioner

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