British entrepreneur Richard Branson says that the UN is about to call for governments around the world to end the War On Drugs and decriminalise the use and possession of currently illegal substances. In a post on the Virgin website, he claims to have seen an as-yet-unreleased statement from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) announcing the radical charge in approach,—he’s broken the embargo on it in case they change their minds.
According to Branson, the UN are planning to declare "unequivocally that criminalisation is harmful unnecessary and disproportionate", and that it was going to be announced at a conference in Malaysia on Sunday, but has been delayed. He also says that he has heard that that “at least one government is putting an inordinate amount of pressure on the UNODC” to not go ahead with the announcement.
He ends the post by saying that “the war on drugs has done too much damage to too many people already.” Wise words.
[via The Independent]
