You might not
have heard, but about a week ago Norway
decriminalised drugs, becoming the first country in Scandinavia to do so.
This is because they want to give addicts treatment, rather than sending them to prison for drugs crime.
Seems pretty reasonable, right? Well, now the United Nations and the World Health Organisation have argued that penalties for all crimes relating to illegal drugs possession should be dropped.
Credit: PA
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Most governments take a pretty dim view on drug use. In fact, many countries have spent millions waging a war on drugs criminals that has largely failed to reduce the number of people taking drugs.
Now the two global organisations have put forward the suggestion that governments should be tackling drugs as a medical issue rather than a criminal one, TechDisease reports.
They called for 'reviewing and repealing punitive laws that have been proven to have negative health outcomes'.
This isn't the first time that the WHO has called for this to happen - in July it called for drugs to be decriminalised with regard to HIV prevention. However, this marks the first time the UN has made such a call.
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Last year saw the UN call a special session on drugs at its headquarters in New York. It was thought that they would change their approach to drugs, particularly marijuana, at this meeting but they met opposition from UN member states and were forced to continue to uphold a criminal approach to drugs.
However, the UN General Secretary, Antonio Guterres, thinks that substance misuse should be tackled through prevention and treatment rather than criminalising addicts.
He said: "Despite the risks and challenges inherent in tackling this global problem, I hope and believe we are on the right path, and that together we can implement a coordinated, balanced and comprehensive approach that leads to sustainable solutions.
"I know from personal experience how an approach based on prevention and treatment can yield positive results."
Antonio Guterres. Credit: PA
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He does have considerable experience as well - Mr Guterres was the Prime Minister of Portugal when it created landmark laws to decriminalise drug use in 2001.
The country now has one of the lowest drug death rates in the whole of Europe, as well as lowered HIV numbers among those who inject drugs.
He continued: "Millions of people across the world use drugs without posing any harm to others.
"Criminalizing them is unnecessary, it's harmful, it's not proportional, and, to us, it undermines the right to privacy and the right to human dignity and personal autonomy."
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: World News, Drugs