Search Results: honorary board (6)

Weed Quotes
Richard Branson, Virgin Group: “[T]he war on drugs has failed, and … what we need to do is treat drugs as a health problem, not as a criminal problem”

​Richard Branson Joins Powerful Group That Includes Sting, Arianna Huffington, Russell Simmons, Former Heads of State, and Former U.S. Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Surgeon General, Attorney General and Chairman of the Federal Reserve
 
Virgin Group founder and social entrepreneur Richard Branson has joined the Honorary Board of the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), the U.S.-based organization that is fighting for alternatives to current drug policy that are grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights.
 

Wikipedia
Deepak Chopra: Newest member of the Drug Policy Alliance’s Honorary Board

Becomes Newest Member of Drug Policy Alliance Honorary Board
Joins Powerful Group that Includes Former Heads of State, Richard Branson, Arianna Huffington, Sting, Russell Simmons, and Former U.S. Secretary of State, U.S. Secretary of Defense, U.S. Surgeon General, U.S. Attorney General and Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve
Physician, bestselling author and global thought leader Deepak Chopra has joined the Honorary Board of the Drug Policy Alliance, the U.S.-based organization that is leading the fight for drug policies grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights.

Drug Policy Alliance

Full Page New York Times Ad in Thursday Paper: “80 Years After the End of Prohibition, Prohibition is Finally Coming to an End” 
Comes on Heels of Obama Response to Marijuana Legalization in Colorado and Washington: “We’ve Got Bigger Fish to Fry”
In Thursday’s New York Times, a drug policy reform organization is running a full-page ad that thanks voters in Colorado and Washington and emphasizes the growing support for drug policy reform among people from across the political spectrum who are renowned for their leadership in law, health, business, media and politics. Last month, Colorado and Washington became the first two states in the country – and the first political jurisdictions anywhere in the world – to approve legally regulating marijuana like alcohol, with both states’ initiatives winning by decisive margins.

Photo: stingus.net

​Internationally renowned musician and activist Sting has teamed up with the Drug Policy Alliance to call for an end to the failed War on Drugs. The musician has written a passionate letter spelling out the devastating consequences of the Drug War, and is urging people to support the DPA in advocating for sane drug policies.

“The War on Drugs has failed — but it’s worse than that,” Sting writes. “It is actively harming our society. Violent crime is thriving in the shadows to which the drug trade has been consigned. People who genuinely need help can’t get it. Neither can people who need medical marijuana to treat terrible diseases. We are spending billions, filling up our prisons with non-violent offenders and sacrificing our liberties.”
Global Commission Members, Including Four Former Presidents, To Gather in Warsaw Oct. 24-25
On Heels of Success in Latin America, Global Commission Will Strategize Next Steps for Global Drug Policy Reform
The Global Commission on Drug Policy (GCDP) will gather in Warsaw on October 24 and 25 to highlight the impact of the war on drugs on public health in Eastern Europe and prospects for change around the world.
The Global Commission was convened in July 2010 and has been working to establish a road map for change in drug laws and policies. It is currently composed of 22 international leaders, including seven former presidents.
The GCDP meeting in Poland brings the debate to Eastern Europe, in order to focus on the dramatic human and social consequences of the prevailing hardline approach to drugs in the region. The meeting will include a roundtable organized by the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza to allow interaction with key media and stakeholders.

Photo: Ramble On
Former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and other world leaders, including the former Presidents of Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Switzerland, are endorsing a new report that calls for a paradigm shift in global drug policy.

​On Thursday, the former presidents of several countries, former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, former U.S. Fed Chairman Paul Volcker and other luminaries will release a new report calling the global “War On Drugs” a failure, and encouraging nations to pursue legalizing and regulating drugs as a way to stop the violence inherent in the illegal drug market.

The 24-page paper, by the Global Commission on Drug Policy, argues that the decades-old “global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world.”
“Political leaders and public figures should have the courage to articulate publicly what many of them acknowledge privately: that the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that repressive strategies will not solve the drug problem, and that the war on drugs has not, and cannot, be won,” the report said.