World Leaders Call For Global Drug Decriminalization - A Multi-Billion Dollar Industry Emerges

[The following post is by TDV Chief Editor, Jeff Berwick]

The global trend of marijuana and drug decriminalization is continuing and picking up steam. We have written in The Dollar Vigilante (TDV) Blog and The TDV Newsletter that this will be a very big market in the coming years and many billions of dollars of wealth will be created from this space. Innovations like the Silk Road marketplace have revolutionized the way man can access the outer limits of his consciousness through hallucinogens, something which man has done for millennia. Even some animals eat plans and researchers think it is to “trip.”

World “leaders” are now calling for the decriminalization of drug use which is a big change. In the past year it has mostly been grassroots state movements which have paved the way for decriminalization and legalization. Now, high officials are making the calls. For instance, former Presidents of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Poland, Portugal and Switzerland are pushing for a global change in drug policy.

In a new report, called “Taking Control: Pathways to Drug Policies that Work, by the Global Commission on Drug Policy”, the evolution of thought on drug policy is discussed and decriminalization, alternatives to incarceration and greater emphasis on public health approaches are all touted. The Commission is considered “the most distinguished group of high-level leaders ever to call for such far-reaching changes.”

“The facts speak for themselves. It is time to change course,” according to Kofi Annan, Chair of the Kofi Annan Foundation and convenor of the West Africa Commission on Drugs. “We need drug policies informed by evidence of what actually works, rather than policies that criminalize drug use while failing to provide access to effective prevention or treatment. This has led not only to overcrowded jails but also to severe health and social problems.”

The War On Drugs caused mass incarceration and there have been no answers from officials on how this problem will be alleviated. Most of them probably don’t want this problem alleviated because it would take a sponsor – Corrections Corps of America – out of their back pocket. No politicians want to undermine the satisfying year the CCA stock has had:

Not to mention, police forces would be reduced dramatically if they didn’t have to follow young people around and stopping them, frisking them and incarcertating them if they had a marijuana bong and a few plants in their pocket.

“Ultimately, the global drug control regime must be reformed to permit legal regulation,” stated former president of Brazil Fernando Henrique Cardoso. “Let’s start by treating drug addiction as a health issue – rather than as a crime – and by reducing drug demand through proven educational initiatives. But let’s also allow and encourage countries to carefully test models of responsible legal regulation as a means to undermine the power of organized crime, which thrives on illicit drug trafficking.”

Treating drug use as a health issue, and not a crime, is a big step on the way towards understanding these issues. Ultimately, this can help us understand that often when somebody has a “drug problem,” they actually have a “life problem.” Only then can we begin to understand dependency and the drugs we use (the good parts and the bad parts). 

“As several European countries became aware of the harms caused by repressive drug policies, they adopted harm reduction and innovative treatment strategies like needle exchange, substitution therapies, heroin prescription and safe consumption rooms, as well as the the decriminalization of drug consumption and possession for personal use”, stated former Swiss president Ruth Dreifuss. “Such lifesaving and safety enhancing measures represent only half of the way to dealing responsibly with drugs in our societies. Regulating the whole chain, from the production to the retail of drugs, allows to rollback criminal organizations, secure quality standards and protect people’s life, health and safety.”

As we’ve seen in Denver, it appears when drugs are no longer forbidden, people are less drawn to them. 

“Health-based approaches to drug policy routinely prove much less expensive and more effective than criminalization and incarceration,” former President of Mexico Ernesto Zedillo said. “Decriminalization of drug consumption is certainly crucial but not sufficient. Significant legal and institutional reforms, both at the national and international levels, are needed to allow governments and societies to put in place policies to regulate the supply of drugs with rigorous medical criteria, if the engines of organized crime profiting from drug traffic are to be truly dismantled.”

In the real world, too, big changes are afoot. One merely need to look to Chile for that nugget of good news.

Claudio Orrego, governor of Metropolitan Santiago, announced last week the approval of the first farm in the capital to grow marijuana for medicinal and research purposes.

“It’s (something) that’s being done in other parts of the world. We greatly value the use of this farm for research,” Oscar Concha, the metropolitan director of SAG, told reporters.

Concha also said that “there’s a commitment by the Daya Foundation to fulfilling the established security requirements.”

“This is, without a doubt, an historic milestone. We’re starting to build a road toward alleviating the suffering of many people, we’re starting to build a friendlier society,” said Daya Foundation president Ana Maria Gazmuri. Marijuana use is not against the law in Chile, though the sale and cultivation of marijuana is prohibited, making it illegal in practice. The government has been open to the use of medical marijuana.

I am very excited for these changes. I don’t personally use many drugs other than from time to time when others around me are. But I know many people who have and do use them and in many cases they are the most capable and driven individuals I know. Also oftentimes the most creative. I also know many of my favorite pieces of art (movies, books, music, etc.) have been conceived thanks to these drugs. This has always led me to suspect the real reason these things are illegal is because they encourage new lines of reasoning… thinking outside the box. 

But the box is disintegrating and people are catching wind of new ways of seeing. These are just a few of the signs.  In TDV Golden Trader our motto is “In Bullion and Bud We Trust” and one of its recent gold (bullion) stock picks rose 400% and was bought out.  And an investment opportunity in the medical marijuana sector already has resulted in 100% gains in the last month (subscribe to TDV Golden Trader here).

These are the very early days and those who invest now, especially in the medical marijuana industry, have the potential to reap massive gains.

Had any trippy experiences or have insights into drug policy? Join us and comment at The Dollar Vigilante Blog.