Pickets against death penalty for drug offenses (including cannabis) in Malaysia: London Paris Vienna, THURSDAY 4 MARCH 2010, 1 PM: For an end to the death penalty for drug offenses in Malaysia and elsewhere.
In cooperation with Encod members in London, Paris and Vienna, Encod is organising picket line demo's at the Malaysian embassies in the UK and France (on 4 March 2010) as well as at the entrance of the UN Centre in Vienna where the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs will be held (on 8 and 9 March 2010).
Please join us in front of the Malaysian Embassy, 45 BELGRAVE SQUARE, LONDON SW1X 8QT (near Hyde Park Corner, Piccadilly Line).
OR in Paris: REJOIGNEZ-NOUS FACE DE L’AMBASSADE DE MALAISIE A PARIS – 2 Bis Rue Benouville, 75116 Paris (Métro Porte Dauphine)
JEUDI 4 MARS 2010, 1 PM.
DRUG LAWS ARE MORE DANGEROUS THAN DRUGS THEMSELVES
From March 8 to 12, 2010 during the yearly meeting of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, governments from all over the world will once again declare their support to the global fight against drugs, i.e. the substances that were prohibited worldwide by a UN Convention in 1961.
In Malaysia, as in 21 other countries in the world, people who use or possess relatively small quantities of drugs, including cannabis, are sentenced to death. These sentences are mandatory: judges have no possibility to invoke any extenuating circumstance. Furthermore, the usual burden of proof is reversed so that an individual is presumed to be guilty unless he or she can prove otherwise.
International Conventions on Human Rights, various UN Human Rights Bodies and the UN Secretary General have expressed that the “death penalty should only be considered in cases where the crime is intentional and results in lethal or extremely grave consequences, not in cases of economic, non-violent or victimless offences. In those cases a death sentence may be considered as an arbitrary execution.”
The use, sale or trafficking of drugs is not intended to have a lethal outcome. People use drugs to feel good or to feel better, and as long as there is a demand there will always be a supply. Also in Malaysia, drug use has continued to rise in spite of the death penalty. The people who are occasionally caught by authorities do not have major responsibilities in this business. Killing them will not scare the drug gangs away. On the contrary: thanks to these punishments, the leaders in the drug business can continue to justify extraordinary high prices for their goods
Legitimized by the United Nations, drug prohibition continues to drive repressive policies and legislation including death sentence. These policies are typically rooted in moral in stead of rational arguments, and impede the development of progressive and effective responses to any problems that the use of drugs may cause.
EUROPEAN COALITION FOR JUST AND EFFECTIVE DRUG POLICIES
Lange Lozanastraat 14 – 2018 Antwerpen - Belgium
Tel. + 32 (0)3 293 0886 / Mob. + 32 (0)495 122644
http://www.encod.org
http://newsoftheweed.com/?p=388
http://usersvoice.org/?p=170
Please join us in front of the Malaysian Embassy, 45 BELGRAVE SQUARE, LONDON SW1X 8QT (near Hyde Park Corner, Piccadilly Line).
OR in Paris: REJOIGNEZ-NOUS FACE DE L’AMBASSADE DE MALAISIE A PARIS – 2 Bis Rue Benouville, 75116 Paris (Métro Porte Dauphine)
JEUDI 4 MARS 2010, 1 PM.
DRUG LAWS ARE MORE DANGEROUS THAN DRUGS THEMSELVES
From March 8 to 12, 2010 during the yearly meeting of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, governments from all over the world will once again declare their support to the global fight against drugs, i.e. the substances that were prohibited worldwide by a UN Convention in 1961.
In Malaysia, as in 21 other countries in the world, people who use or possess relatively small quantities of drugs, including cannabis, are sentenced to death. These sentences are mandatory: judges have no possibility to invoke any extenuating circumstance. Furthermore, the usual burden of proof is reversed so that an individual is presumed to be guilty unless he or she can prove otherwise.
International Conventions on Human Rights, various UN Human Rights Bodies and the UN Secretary General have expressed that the “death penalty should only be considered in cases where the crime is intentional and results in lethal or extremely grave consequences, not in cases of economic, non-violent or victimless offences. In those cases a death sentence may be considered as an arbitrary execution.”
The use, sale or trafficking of drugs is not intended to have a lethal outcome. People use drugs to feel good or to feel better, and as long as there is a demand there will always be a supply. Also in Malaysia, drug use has continued to rise in spite of the death penalty. The people who are occasionally caught by authorities do not have major responsibilities in this business. Killing them will not scare the drug gangs away. On the contrary: thanks to these punishments, the leaders in the drug business can continue to justify extraordinary high prices for their goods
Legitimized by the United Nations, drug prohibition continues to drive repressive policies and legislation including death sentence. These policies are typically rooted in moral in stead of rational arguments, and impede the development of progressive and effective responses to any problems that the use of drugs may cause.
EUROPEAN COALITION FOR JUST AND EFFECTIVE DRUG POLICIES
Lange Lozanastraat 14 – 2018 Antwerpen - Belgium
Tel. + 32 (0)3 293 0886 / Mob. + 32 (0)495 122644
http://www.encod.org http://newsoftheweed.com/?p=388 http://usersvoice.org/?p=170
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Comments
Hide the following 13 comments
Why Do They Make Drugs Illegal?
23.02.2010 23:36
My final point is... who the hell do they think they are? Most people are quite capable of making their own decisions about these things... I suspect that more people die every year from prescription drugs rather than 'illegal' drugs.
People should have the freedom to choose!!!
Klamber
Economical yes...it's the West stopping other countries exporting & having power
24.02.2010 00:35
The pharmaceutical [synthetic drugs] industry has a grip on the world and is part of this. Synthetic drugs control people and the people who manufacture them control much of the world. Unfortunately your average person believs all sorts of stupid rubbish such as all GPs are good people. Tell that to the families of the victims of Dr Shipman.
anon
to klamber
24.02.2010 19:16
Now with the advances in hydroponics and the advances we have made as a species we now have drugs that range from "skunk" which will cause long term health problems (please dont argue, just go talk to a drugs worker or someone from the mental units) to the wonderfull "meth" which is a "darwin" drug, take it and you will soon die.
Seen too much of the after effects to believe that drugs are "good" for you, yes the benefits of low grade 'narbis are now documented, and hopfully one day there may even a case for prescription.
I know it's a personal choice, but why should the rest of us have to put up with the fall out of other peoples inability to deal with reality? Even if you made everything legal what happens when the addict cant afford thier fix? free handout? Prescriptions that cost the rest of us? Why the f##k should we?
If we legalise it, then we should withdraw all medical care for the outcome, and do the same for alcohol.
onon by right
onon by right
24.02.2010 21:35
Low use of cannabis seems to be fine. But thats not what a lot of people/kids are doing.
Theres been a massive rise in mental health / phycosis, typically in people in their early twenties who have been smoking hard for 5+ years. No use aguing against that, its well researched and is a huge and growing problem.
The scary thing is, no one knows what effects will occur 20-30 years from now from todays harden skunk smokers. We just have absolutely no idea of the long term effects.
Which does lead to the "who should pay for it" question. Ok, we can make it legal - But then, why should people with their head screwed on have to pay for other people's stupidity?
I (and many, many other people), don't want to be paying the health bills for self-destructive people when I can barely pay to get my wisdom teeth removed (through no fault of my own).
The NHS should put priority to people who have genuine illnesses out of their control, not people who do something illegal and deliberately destroy their own health.
ted
@ted
24.02.2010 23:00
Klamber
Live Life!
24.02.2010 23:28
Sit on the sofa and not move for 4hours then have a whitey and go for a vomit whilst cussing the government for all your failings?
Live Life!
red
not true
25.02.2010 11:15
no, there hasn't, rates have remained constant for the last 30 years
so perhaps you should have researched it better
riotact
No link between Cannabis use and Schizophrenia
25.02.2010 14:53
And while I'm at it I'd just like (for teds sake) to dispel the skunk myth. Skunk has been around since the dutch growing methods of the 1970's, its not new. Just because its stronger doesn't mean everyone will smoke as much of it as they would the older, weaker type of weed. Much the same as you wouldn't drink as much of vodka as you would beer.
Howard Marks
skunk not cannabis
25.02.2010 21:36
And, the keele report was based on studies about cannabis - It had absolutely NOTHING to do with skunk.
The King's College London's institute of psychiatry has recently conducted the FIRST study on skunk and mental illness and found a significant link only a few months ago.
I'll quote a snippet from a news source:
"They found that those who had been diagnosed with psychosis serious enough to last a week and warrant admission to hospital were twice as likely to have used cannabis for longer than five years and more than six times more likely to use it every day.
And among all those who had used cannabis -- from both the healthy group and the psychotic group -- those with psychosis were almost seven times more likely to use skunk, a finding the researchers described as "striking."
It is also worth remembering that the King's College of London is a research-led university (that is significantly different to a teaching university) and is regarded as one of the top 25 universities in the world.
Keele University used to be a polytechnic before it changed into a university and the number of points you needed to get in was very low and primarily does teaching.
ted
thankyou
26.02.2010 20:56
You have completely owned those guys. I notice their 'references' are real references either but from a pro-cannabis website so are likely to be selective statistics and not very impartial.
Its always better to go the source when researching something.
Thanks for opening our eyes to this.
Anon
Ted owns no-one
27.02.2010 16:28
He has shown himself to be a prohibitionist, against the rights of the individual to choose for themselves and ultimately a believer in the illegal laws that make cannabis illegal, namely the 1928 Geneva Opiates Conference and the 1961 UN Single Narcotics Convention. Both of these laws are founded on incorrect evidence and also act outside of their jurisdiction as Cannabis is neither an opiate nor a narcotic.
Finally I'd like to ask ted the age-old question that always comes up with regard to Cannabis prohibition and that is, would you ban alcohol?
nonny mouse
Strawman
28.02.2010 22:39
it's all in the public domain. Do a google you'll find it
and since when did I say ban anything?
That's such a strawman. Saying I said ban it and then argue against it
I really hate being misquoted
I don't care who deliberately screws their life up with poison
what I care about is having to pay for their treatment on the nhs whilst people with genuine illnesses are denied treatment. Same with alcohol abuse. People who abuse their health have a right to do that but should pay for their own damage
Ted
wrong website...
04.03.2010 21:56
Lets ban everything, that'll learn [sic] 'em!
Spotty