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GOAL NUMBER TWO: REDUCE THE HARM CAUSED BY THE "WAR ON DRUGS"

Public Letter to Kofi Annan June 1, 1998 Mr. Kofi Annan Secretary General United Nations New York, New York United States Dear Secretary General, On the occasion of the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Drugs in New York on June 8-10, 1998, we seek your leadership in stimulating a frank and honest evaluation of global drug control efforts. We are all deeply concerned about the threat that drugs pose to our children, our fellow citizens and our societies. There is no choice but to work together, both within our countries and across borders, to reduce the harms associated with drugs. The United Nations has a legitimate and important role to play in this regard -- but only if it is willing to ask and address tough questions about the success or failure of its efforts. We believe that the global war on drugs is now causing more harm than drug abuse itself. Every decade the United Nations adopts new international conventions, focused largely on criminalization and punishment, that restrict the ability of individual nations to devise effective solutions to local drug problems. Every year governments enact more punitive and costly drug control measures. Every day politicians endorse harsher new drug war strategies. What is the result? U.N. agencies estimate the annual revenue generated by the illegal drug industry at $400 billion, or the equivalent of roughly eight per cent of total international trade. This industry has empowered organized criminals, corrupted governments at all levels, eroded internal security, stimulated violence, and distorted both economic markets and moral values. These are the consequences not of drug use per se, but of decades of failed and futile drug war policies. In many parts of the world, drug war politics impede public health efforts to stem the spread of HIV, hepatitis and other infectious diseases. Human rights are violated, environmental assaults perpetrated and prisons inundated with hundreds of thousands of drug law violators. Scarce resources better expended on health, education and economic development are squandered on ever more expensive interdiction efforts. Realistic proposals to reduce drug-related crime, disease and death are abandoned in favor of rhetorical proposals to create drug-free societies. Persisting in our current policies will only result in more drug abuse, more empowerment of drug markets and criminals, and more disease and suffering. Too often those who call for open debate, rigorous analysis of current policies, and serious consideration of alternatives are accused of "surrendering." But the true surrender is when fear and inertia combine to shut off debate, suppress critical analysis, and dismiss all alternatives to current policies. Mr. Secretary General, we appeal to you to initiate a truly open and honest dialogue regarding the future of global drug control policies - one in which fear, prejudice and punitive prohibitions yield to common sense, science, public health and human rights.

Figure 25 Open Letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, June 1, 1998.

Selected Signatories of Letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan Argentina Domingo Cavallo, Congressman Graciela Fernandez Meijide, Member of Congress Irma Fidela Parentella,Member of Congress Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Nobel Laureate (Peace, 1980) Australia Dick Adams, National Parliament Lyn Allison, Senator, National Parliament Ald. Pru Bonham, Deputy Lord Mayor, Hobart Kate Carnell, Chief Minister, Australian Capital Territory Barney Cooney, Senator from Victoria Harry Jenkins, House of Representatives, National Parliament Michael Kirby, AC CMG, President, International Commission of Jurists Michael Moore, Minister for Health and Community Care, ACT Richard Smallwood, Fmr. President, Royal Australasian College of Physicians Belgium Vincent Decroly, Member of Parliament, Brussels Patrick Moriau, Member of Parliament, Mayor of Chapelle-lez-Herlaimont Ilya Prigogine , Emeritus professor physical chemistry, Free University of Brussels; Nobel Laureate (Chemistry, 1977) Bolivia Antonio Aranibar Quiroga, Fmr. Foreign Minister Edgar Camacho Omiste, Fmr. Ambassador to the OAS Roger Cortez-Hurtado, Fmr. Member of Congress Juan del Granado, Member of Congress Alfonso Ferrufino Valderrama, Fmr. Vice-President of the Bolivian House of Representatives Lidya Gueiler Tejada, Fmr. President of Bolivia Roberto Moscoso Valderrama, Member of Congress Ricardo Paz Ballivian, Fmr. Member of Congress Carlos Julio Quiroga Blanco, Member of Congress Guillermo Richter A., Fmr. Senator Gonzalo Ruiz, Member of Congress Manuel Suarez Avila, Member of Congress Felix Vasquez Mamani, Member of Congress Canada Chris Axworthy, Member of Parliament, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Sharon Carstairs, Senator, Fmr. Chair, Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, Senate of Canada Libby Davies, Member of Parliament, Vancouver-East Bev Desjarlais, Member of Parliament, Manitoba Yvon Godin, Member of Parliament, Bathhurst, NB Rick Laliberte, Member of Parliament, Churchill River, Beauval, Saskatchewan Wendy Lill, Member of Parliament, Dartmouth Peter Mancini, Member or Parliament Alexa McDonough, Member of Parliament, Federal Leader of New Democratic Party, Ottawa, Canada Lorne Nystrom, Member of Parliament, N.D.P., Qu'Appelle, Regina, Saskatchewan John C. Polanyi, Nobel Laureate (Chemistry, 1986) Svend Robinson, Member of Parliament, New Democratic Party of Canada, Burnaby-Douglas Gordon S. Earle, Member of Parliament, Halifax, Nova Scotia Peter Stoffer, Member of Parliament - New Democratic Party of Canada Judy Wasylycia-Leis, Member of Parliament, Winnipeg Colombia Belisario Betancur, Fmr. President Augusto Ramirez Ocampo, Fmr. Foreign Minister Costa Rica Oscar Arias, Fmr. President of Costa Rica; Nobel Laureate (Peace, 1987) Denmark Hans Henrik Brydensholt, High Court Judge Bjørn Elmquist, Fmr. Member of Parliament Erik Merlung, District Attorney, Copenhagen Erling Olsen, Fmr. Minister of Justice Villy Søvndal, Member of Parliament Ecuador Washington Herrera, Fmr. Presidential Minister Finland Inkeri Anttila, Fmr. Minister of Justice K.J Laang, Fmr. General Director of the Prison Service France Michèle Barzach, Fmr. Minister of Health Georges Berthoin, International Honarary Chairman of the European Movement, Paris France Catherine Lalumiere, Member of the European Parliament Jacky Mamou, President, Médecins de Monde Germany Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Member, European Parliament Peter Frerichs, Vice President, Frankfurt Police Leutheuser-Schnarrenberger, Fmr. German Federal Minister of Justice Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, Fmr. German Federal Minister of Justice Hartmut Schneider, District Court Judge, Lübeck Dierk-Henning Schnitzler, Police President, City of Bonn Greece Franglinos Papadellis, Fmr. Minister of Health, Member of Parliament George Papandreou, Alternate Foreign Minister of Greece Michaelis Papayannakis, Member European Parliament Guatemala Ramiro De Leon Carpio, Fmr. President of Guatemala Israel Yossi Beilin, Fmr. Minister, Member of Knesset, Tel Aviv Haim Cohn, Fmr. Deputy President of the Israel Supreme Court, Professor of Penal Philosophy Menachem Horovitz, Fmr. Director of Correctional Services Italy Monica Bettoni-Brandani, Undersecretary of State for Health Emma Bonino, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs Francesco Carella, President Health Commission of the Senate Dario Fo, Nobel Laureate (Literature, 1997) Luigi Manconi, Senator, President of the Green Party, Rome Giuliano Pisapia, President, Justice Commission, Italian Parliament, Rome Ersilia Salvato, Vice-President, Senate, Rome Grazia Zuffa, President, Forum Droghe;Fmr. Member of Parliament, Florence Luxembourg Renée Wagner, Member of Parliament, Luxemburg Mexico Maria del Carmen Bolado del Real, Senator Carlos Heredia Zubieta, Member of Congress Gilberto Lopez y Rivas, Member of Congress Jesus Silva Herzog, Fmr. Mexican Ambassador to the United States Netherlands Andreas van Agt, Fmr. Prime Minister of the Netherlands;Fmr. Minister of Justice Hedy d'Ancona, Fmr. Dutch Minister of Welfare, Health, and Culture; Member of the European Parliament Jan F. Glastra van Loon, Professor, Senator, Fmr. State Secretary of Justice Sylvia van 't Hul, Public Prosecutor, Rotterdam Free le Poole, Member of the First Chamber of Parliament (Senate) E.H. Schuyer, Senator; Chairman of Democrats (D66), Senate Jan G. van der Tas, Fmr. Netherlands Ambassador to Germany J.M. vander Vaart, Judge, District Court of Amsterdam New Zealand Tim Barnett, Member of Parliament, New Zealand Nicaragua Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, Fmr. President of Nicaragua Miguel d'Escoto Brockman, Fmr. Foreign Minister Norway Jo Benkow, Fmr. President of Parliament Gunnar Garbo, Ambassador;Fmr. Member of Parliament Peru Javier Alva Orlandini, Member of Congress Rolando Ames, Fmr. Senator Arturo Castillo Chirinos, Member of Congress Antero Flores Araoz Esparza, Member of Congress Lourdes Flores Nano, Member of Congress Ernesto Gamarra Olivares, Member of Congress Diego Garcia-Sayan, Executive Director, Andean Commission of Jurists Alfonso Grados Bertorini, Member of Congress, Peru Manuel Lajo Lazo, Member of Congress Javier Perez de Cuellar, Fmr. Secretary General of the United Nations Alejandro Santa Maria, Member of Congress Annel Townsend Diez Canseco, Member of Congress Allan Wagner, Fmr. Minister of Foreign Affairs Poland Marek Balicki, Psychiatrist, Fmr. Deputy, Ministry of Health Mikolaj Kozakiewicz, Fmr. Speaker of Parliament (1989-1991); Vice-President of IPPF Marek Nowicki, President, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights South Africa Helen Suzman, Fmr. Opposition Member of Parliament, Johannesburg Spain PerfectoAndrés Ibañez, Judge; Presidente de la Secc. 15. Audiencia provincial de Madrid Heriberto Asencio Castillan, Judge. Audiencia provincial de Sevilla Emilio Berlanga Ribelles, Judge. Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Cataluña Ricardo Bodas Martin, Judge. Juzgado de lo Social n° 30 de Madrid Ascension Sole Puig, Judge.Juzgado de lo Social n° 28 de Barcelona Luis Yañez-Barnuevo, Member of Parliament Sweden Claes Örtendahl, Fmr. Director General, Board of Health and Welfare, Sweden Ingegmar Rexed, Judge, Svea Court of Appeal, Stockholm Switzerland Peter Albrecht, Judge, Court of Bâle-Ville Christian Brunier, Member of Parliament, Geneva Jacqueline Cogne, Member of Parliament, Geneva Herve Dessimoz, Congressman, Geneva Parliament Dr. Dominique Hausser, Member of Parliament, Geneva Albert Rodrik, Member of Parliament, Geneva Francoise Schenk-Gottret, Member of Parliament, Geneva United States Morton Abramowitz, International Crisis Group;Fmr. Assistant Secretary of State;Fmr. U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Dr. Jeremiah A Barondess, President, New York Academy of Medicine Nicolaus Bloembergen, Nobel Laureate (Physics, 1981) Willie Brown, Mayor of San Francisco Alan Cranston, Fmr. U.S. Senator Walter Cronkite, Author, Broadcast Journalist John Curtin, Federal Judge, Buffalo, NY Lloyd N. Cutler, Lawyer, Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering;Fmr. Counsel to the President, 1979-1981, 1994 Joycelyn Elders, Fmr. U.S. Surgeon General Val L. Fitch, Nobel Laureate (Physics, 1980) Milton Friedman, Nobel Laureate (Economics) Terrence Hallinan, District Attorney of San Francisco Morton H. Halperin, Fmr. Department of Defense and National Security Council Official Susan Hammer, Mayor of San Jose John Kane, Federal Judge, Denver, CO Nicholas Katzenbach, Fmr. Attorney General Whitman Knapp, Senior District Judge, Southern District of New York Robert E. Lucas, Jr., Nobel Laureate (Economics, 1995) Kweisi Mfume, President and CEO of the NAACP Claiborne Pell, Fmr. U.S. Senator Elliot Richardson, Fmr. US Attorney General Kurt Schmoke, Mayor of Baltimore George Shultz, Fmr. Secretary of State Richard E. Smalley, Nobel Laureate (Chemistry, 1996) George Soros, Chairman, Open Society Institute Robert Sweet, Federal Judge, New York, NY Paul Volcker, Fmr. Chairman, Federal Reserve Board United Kingdom Austin N.E. Amissah, Judge, London Edward Ellison, Operational Head of Scotland Yard Drug Squad Paul Flynn, Member of Parliament, House of Commons Dr. Brian Iddon, Member of Parliament, London Austin Mitchell, Member of Parliament, UK Lord Rae, MD, House of Lords Anthony Tibber, Judge, London Carole Tongue, Member of European Parliament Venezuela Simon Alberto Consalvi, Fmr. Minister of Foreign Affairs Diego Arria, Ambassador