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What people say…

Ultimately this is a choice between control by governments or by gangsters; there is no third option in which drug markets can be made to disappear.

Henrique Fernando Cardosoformer President of Brazil

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

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

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

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)

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

Sir Richard Bransonbusinessman

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

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

Capital punishment for drug-related offences should be suspended all over the world, and there are both opportunities and pressures for countries retaining capital punishment to change course.

Ruth Dreifussformer President of Switzerland

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

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