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Annan Says Anti-Drug Policies Have Failed
[An Nahar] Former U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...called Thursday for a discussion on decriminalization of drugs, criticizing the crackdown on traffickers in Mexico led by outgoing President Felipe Calderon. "When you look at the results of Calderon's efforts, most people will tell you it has not worked. He's got lots of people killed," Annan said at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "There is need for change in policy, but it has to start with a debate and discussion because there are very strong emotions on either side," Annan said. Annan served last year on a global commission headed by former Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso that recommended decriminalization of drugs. He reiterated Thursday that drug laws "have not worked." "We have applied them (the laws) for decades. It's got the prisons filled with lots of young people who sometimes come out destroyed for having an ounce, or whatever," he said. "We should approach it through education, health issues, rather than a brutal reaction," he said. Annan also called more attention to curbing demand for drugs -- which in Mexico's case comes largely from the United States -- rather than just cutting down on supply. Posted by: Fred 2012-10-20 |
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