1. Amanda Feilding, Beckley Foundation
A New Convention
Amanda Feilding, Beckley Foundation

2. Flesh of the gods: Drugs and the Divine
‘Flesh of the gods’ (Psilocybin)
‘Sacred medicine’ (Peyote)
‘The divine food’ (Qat, Ancient Egyptians)
‘Vine of the soul’ (Ayahuasca)
‘The sacred leaf’ (Coca)
‘Food of the gods’ (Cannabis, early Indians)

3. Birth of Drug Control Conventions
1909 International Opium Commission
1912 Hague Opium Convention
1925 International Opium Convention
1936 Geneva Convention for the Suppression of the Illicit Traffic in Dangerous Drugs
1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs
1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances
1988 Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances

4. Beginnings of the Prohibitionist Approach: The 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs
Signed by 73 countries
Designed to eradicate coca, opium and cannabis: i)production and cultivation;
ii) trade and distribution
iii) possession and consumption
At the heart of global criminalising approach
Drafted and signed in an entirely different social and political context from today

5. Negative Consequences
This approach has:
i) generated a vast criminal underworld;
ii) undermined public health, human rights, international security and development;
iii) wasted billions of pounds each year on programmes of eradication and incarceration.
A major proportion of drug-related harms is caused directly by the policy of prohibition, rather than by the drugs themselves.

6. Negative Consequences...
It has created a criminal market of $320 billion a year, destabilising countries through violence & corruption.
Since 2006, over 35,000 killed within Mexico’s War on Drugs.
Despite the US & UK spending over $76 billion a year fighting the Taliban and their drug operations, 90% of UK illegal heroin remains Afghan. The narcotics trade in Afghanistan is worth over $4 billion a year.
It has produced the ‘balloon effect’, eg. South-East Asia and the Andes.

7. Imprisonment and Discrimination
10 million in prison worldwide for drugs.
In 2009 the US had 1.6 million drug-related offences, of which 1.35 million were for drug possession alone. Over 850,000 were arrested for marijuana (most for mere possession).
African Americans compromise 14% of regular drug users in the US, BUT 37% of those arrested for drug offences and 57% of those incarcerated for drug crimes.

8. Lack of any evaluation in UN, USA etc.
NGOs such as the Beckley Foundation and TNI started research into evaluation and published results; pressurising the UN to do the same.
It is impossible to estimate accurately the costs of the War on Drugs.

9. Cannabis: The Elephant in the Room
Represents 80% of all drug-related crime
4.4% of the world’s population use cannabis, whereas only 1% use all other illegal drugs combined
Without cannabis to uphold it, the War on Drugs would collapse
The Beckley Foundation Global Cannabis Commission Report

10. According to all indices the War on Drugs has failed.
Time for Change
According to all indices the War on Drugs has failed.
It is time to rethink our priorities:
To have new evidence-based policies based on harm-reduction and health.
It is time to count the costs and consider new approaches