Australia’s politicians were unable to make the most persuasive argument for clemency for Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran because Australia is also a combatant in the misguided war on drugs.
Indonesia’s anti-drug policy that enforces the death penalty for drug traffickers is in line with international law.
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International pressure has mounted on Indonesia in recent months to stop its enforcement of the death penalty. But Indonesia should maintain its tough anti-drug stance.
Chris Christie has vowed to ‘crack down’ on marijuana if elected president.
Brian Snyder/reuters
There is no doubt methamphetamine can cause harm. But when politicians hijack drug issues and overplay them for political purposes, that too can cause harm.
Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan inside a holding cell as they wait for their final appeal against the death sentence at Denpasar District Court in Bali, Indonesia in 2010.
EPA/Made Nagi
Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s claim of a national drug “emergency” that necessitates the death penalty for drug crimes is based on questionable statistics. Jokowi, as he is popularly known in Indonesia…
Up from the depths… a narcosub captured in Equador.
US DEA
It will come as no surprise to anyone that drugs are big business, so when a drone crashed in a car park of a US border town weighed down with several kilos of narcotics, it was just another example of…
Will the feds raid this Christmas tree?
Rick Wilking/Reuters
Abraham Lincoln said that those who shape public opinion exert an even greater influence than judges and lawmakers. In recent years popular sentiment – on issues like marriage equality and legalization…
Housing First is a program that offers housing to homeless drug users – regardless of whether or not they’re drug free – with a goal of social recovery.
Bryan Guilas/Flickr
Over the past decade, drug use in the US has risen dramatically, with heroin use reaching epidemic proportions. The country’s policy for combating abuse has involved incarceration, abstinence-only treatment…
After days of national and international scorn, Mexican authorities finally released 11 persons who were arrested during protests against the disappearance of 43 students in September. President Enrique…
Legalised programs may be underused if doctors do not support them.
boodoo/Flickr
A bill to permit medical cannabis use in Australia is set for debate in Senate. If medical cannabis use is legalised, doctors could become gatekeepers between patients and a controversial drug. Lessons…
Anti-government messages on Mexico City streets: “Phony government that shoots at students.”
Tomas Bravo/Reuters
Most murders in the United States are well hidden. Popular tourist cities like Chicago, New Orleans and Washington D.C. have homicide rates substantially higher than the national average. At times they…
Zero tolerance is a faith and not a policy.
Creativity103/Flickr
According to the UK government’s “first evidence-based study”, released at the end of last week, tough laws for personal possession of illicit drugs fail to lower levels of their use. This is not news…
The war on drugs is not working for every day Brazilians.
Antonio Lacerda/EPA
Brazil has a serious drug problem. The country lies beside the largest coca plantations in the world in Peru and Colombia. A sizeable part of the cocaine used in Europe moves through its vast territory…
The home-baked illicit drug krokodil first emerged in provincial Russia during the early 2000s.
Dorin Popa/Flickr
Andrey Zheluk, University of Sydney and Peter Meylakhs, Russian National Research University The Higher School of Economics
Reports of a “flesh-eating zombie drug” called krokodil, accompanied by lurid images first appeared in English during 2010. The drug serves as an excellent illustration of the havoc bad drug policies can…
Most of the world continues with a criminal justice approach to drug use despite ample evidence of its harmfulness.
Jason Verwey/Flickr
In 1967, the Beatles took out a full-page advertisement in The Times describing Britain’s marijuana laws as “immoral in principle and unworkable in practice”. Almost half a century later, both past and…
Papering over the cracks of the war on drugs.
Agência Brasil
There are stories some people might not expect to read about Iran – and its progressive drugs policy is one. As a number of countries begin to slowly reconsider their approach towards illicit drugs, following…
The use of crystal meth among Australians continues to increase and remains at a high level, according to a new report.
AAP/NSW Police
The 2012-13 Australian Crime Commission (ACC) Illicit Drug Data Report, released earlier this week, provides mounting evidence that crystal meth is becoming a large-scale problem for law enforcement and…
Mexicans are taking matters into their own hands.
Esther Vargas
In 2013, Mexico signed into law an important and controversial set of structural reforms, one of which opens the way for foreign companies to profit from Mexico’s oil holdings. An article in The Economist…
Younger Chinese revellers are seeking new highs.
Ding Zhou
The close of 2013 saw a drugs bust of cinematic proportions in China. Part of Operation Thunder, more than 3,000 armed police with a cavalry of helicopters, motorboats and police dogs busted the village…