The pledge by ASEAN leaders to intensify campaigns to create a drug-free
ASEAN by 2015 is increasingly out of step with international trends
which, according to the recent findings of The Global Commission on Drug
Policy, increasingly favor drug policy reforms like decriminalization
and treating addiction as a public health issue.
Dr. Michel Kazatchkine, a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy
told a Bangkok forum that the war on drugs is a failure. Citing the
commission’s recent report, Kazatchkine said, “We recommend immediate
major reforms of the global prohibition regime to halt the spread of HIV
infection…” and other health problems.
