A SWANSEA University professor and co-author of a new report into the rise and decline of cannabis prohibition claims the current trend towards legal regulation of the cannabis market has become irreversible.
David Bewley-Taylor, who is the director of the Global Drug Policy Observatory, has also called for urgent dialogue by UN member states on the best models for protecting people’s health and safety in the light of revelations over its usage.
The report suggests that the question facing the international community today is no longer whether there is a need to revise the UN drug control system, but rather when and how to do it.
He said: “A promising way forward is for a group of like-minded countries to work together to assess different legal options and determine a roadmap for modernisation. This might lead to replacing the existing drug control treaties with a new framework, one more consistent with other UN treaties on human rights and in line with the latest scientific evidence on the best ways to reduce the harms associated with drug use.”
The UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs is meeting this week to discuss possible changes in the regulation of drugs thus far deemed illegal.
The Wales Green party, meanwhile, has called for the legalisation of the drug.
The party’s leader, Pippa Bartolotti, said: “It is time to separate out the use of cannabis from hard drugs such as heroin and cocaine. No one has yet died from using cannabis, in fact the health benefits of cannabis in the treatment of epilepsy and cancer are already well documented.
“Commercial organisations in the UK are already allowed to patent and sell cannabis extracts, whilst the population as a whole is criminalised for using it – even if it saves their life. This simply has to be changed.”
By South Wales Evening Post
Source: southwales-eveningpost.co.uk
