Apelo de pais e familiares: a situação está passando dos limites

APELO DE PAIS, MEMBROS DA FAMÍLIA E SEUS AMIGOS E ORGANIZAÇÕES FAMILIARES QUE TESTEMUNHARAM E SOFRERAM COM A RESPOSTA À QUESTÃO DAS DROGAS, CUJO FRACASSO INSISTIMOS EM PERSEGUIR

(no email após este explicamos por que este post está em inglês. Esperamos logo tê-lo traduzido por sua importância.)

Parents, family members and their friends and Family Organisations, who have witnessed and suffered from the existing response to drugs:

Recognising the inability of the United Nations Conventions on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances to effectively counter the magnitude and extent of illicit traffic and its grave consequences (an inability outlined in the preamble to the 1988 Convention),

Recognising that the experiment with prohibition has magnified the grave consequences especially the trauma and tragedy visited on users and their families,

Deeply concerned that the application of those Conventions have led to measures that criminalise users of those substances, destroy their future life chances, disrupt families and lead to the waste of public funds,

Deeply concerned that the magnitude of and rising trend in the production of, demand for, and traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances pose a serious threat to the health and welfare of our children and adversely affect the economic, cultural and political foundations of society,

Deeply concerned that illicit drugs are marketed to our children and that children are used for purposes of illicit production, distribution and trade in drugs, which entails a danger and a tragedy of incalculable gravity,

Deeply concerned that the clandestine manufacture of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, produce drugs of unknown quality and purity, often leading to deaths, diseases or injuries to our children,

Deeply concerned that illicit traffic generates huge profits and wealth enabling criminal organisations to penetrate, contaminate and corrupt the structures of government, legitimate commercial and financial business, and society at all its levels

Deeply concerned that the Conventions have not yet been fully and objectively evaluated,

Desiring to deprive persons engaged in illicit traffic of their profits and thereby eliminate their main incentive for so doing,

Desiring to eliminate the root causes of the problematic use of drugs, including social disadvantage, and demand for such drugs and substances,

Hereby call on Governments to align their drug laws and policies ensuring that

i. problematic drug use is dealt with as a health and social issue;

ii. measures to reduce the availability and usage of drugs are framed in accordance with the best available evidence;

iii. the human rights of drug users are respected and the right of dependent drug users have access to the best evidence based treatments;

iv. drug users not be branded as criminals;

v. measures to combat drug use should aim at minimising harms to drug users and not add to the harms caused by the drugs themselves; and

vi. drug policies strengthen rather than undermine the capacity of families to support their children or other members who may use drugs.

and

hereby call on the Secretary-General of the United Nations to:

i. disseminate to member States information on the most effective evidence based treatments;

ii. initiate an evaluation of existing multilateral treaties in the light of this declaration; and

iii. promote an international drug control regime that causes the least possible harm to our children, individuals and to society generally.

To: Parents, family organisations, family members and their friends all over the world

This Declaration is a call for parents, family organisations, family members and their friends all over the world to come together to insist on better laws and policies to deal with illicit drug issues based on research and evidence.

Parents can make a powerful statement on this issue. The voices of parents trying to make a better world for their children need to be heard.

The Declaration also calls on the United Nations to evaluate existing treaties, promote evidence based policies and an international drug control regime that causes the least possible harm to our children, individuals and to society generally.

Full details and the Declaration to be signed can be found at http://ffdlr.org.au/Declaration

Parents, family members and their friends have suffered greatly as a result of the prohibition drug laws and policies. Family members have died or been murdered, been imprisoned, suffered poor health and denied essential treatment services as a direct or indirect result of those policies.

This is not just a problem for families in only one country, it affects families in all countries and it is a problem that originates from the UN drug conventions which are founded on the basic premise that global prohibition policies can prevent drug use. But they have not prevented drug use and have caused more harm than was ever intended.