It has become normal for me to read something I think should of been spread across the Frontpages, buried in some back section of the paper or website. That this Vienna Declaration has to do with AIDs and even worse, decriminalizing drug use, guarantees it being buried. More than ever it appears to be a Third Rail to our politicians as our Citizens waken to silliness and failure of the War on Drugs.
In fact, that is what the declaration declares, in part. Here are the opening paragraphs of the NYTimes article found way back in the Health section.
VIENNA — Some of the world’s top AIDS experts issued a radical manifesto this week at the 18th International AIDS Conference:They declared the war on drugs a 50-year-old failure and called for it to be abandoned.
No One Heard.
Drug War Statement Upstaged at AIDS Gathering
The Declaration itself begins, "The criminalization of illicit drug users is fueling the HIV epidemic and has resulted in
overwhelmingly negative health and social consequences. A full policy reorientation is needed." After that it goes into the details of the failures and damages of the War on Drugs. It is about reducing the harm caused by the authorities as they continue to inprison addicts as criminals rather than treating the disease of addiction. The Declaration does not mince many words, calling it like it is across the world.
In response to the health and social harms of illegal drugs, a large international drug prohibition regime has been developed under the umbrella of the United Nations.1 Decades of research provide a comprehensive assessment of the impacts of the global "War on Drugs" and, as thousands of individuals gather in Vienna at the XVIII International AIDS Conference, the international scientific community calls for an acknowledgement of the limits and harms of drug prohibition, and for drug policy reform to remove barriers to effective HIV prevention, treatment and care.
The evidence that law enforcement has failed to prevent the availability of illegal drugs, in communities where there is demand, is now unambiguous.2, 3Over the last several decades, national and international drug surveillance systems have demonstrated a general pattern of falling drug prices and increasing drug purity—despite massive investments in drug law enforcement.3,4
There are hundreds of reasons to sign the Declaration, my own comes mainly from being a supporter of Medical Marijuana, and currently the passing of Prop.19 in Ca., the legalization of Marijuana for all Adults. I see the passing of Prop.19 as a good first step on stopping the War on Drugs. Since this war on drugs has really turned into a war on people it comes complete with its own war crimes as many of the Signatories write as they describe why they have signed on. You can read some of those stories by clicking on Why I Support the Vienna Declaration. I hope you will join me in signing the Vienna Declaration and spreading the news of its existence and importance.