UN report and unintentional byproducts

There have been hundreds of media “reports” out there in the past day that have been mindlessly parroting the UNODC hype because it’s easy, but not all of them are buying it.
Check out the Vancouver Sun

UN drug report unintentionally argues against prohibition
The 2006 World Drug Report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime will, no doubt, convince many people that we haven’t been diligent enough in prosecuting the war on drugs, that we have to step up our efforts to eradicate illicit drugs, particularly marijuana.
But the report actually confirms that the war on drugs has been a dismal failure, that it has failed to decrease marijuana use and it has placed users in greater danger. […]
But we can blame the rise in marijuana potency directly on the war on drugs. As the 2002 Senate report, which was ignored by both the current Conservative government and the former Liberal one, explained, growers produce the strongest pot possible because it’s easier to trade. As more draconian laws were passed and enforcement was stepped up, it became more profitable to transport smaller quantities of potent drugs than large amounts of mild ones.
The report even admits that “cannabis breeders in North America and Europe have been working to create more potent cannabis,” but it seems unaware that this is a direct result of the criminalization of the drug.
Since marijuana use and potency have both increased during the all-out war on drugs, it’s abundantly clear that the war has been a failure. Indeed, the only way to control the purity of the product — and thereby protect the health of the user — is through the regulation of the growth and sale of marijuana. But don’t expect to hear that from the UN agency any time soon, because it has been repeatedly bullied by the United States into promoting a prohibitionist ideology toward all recreational drugs.
Regardless of what the agency says, its evidence its clear: The war on marijuana has failed to decrease drug use, and has increased the dangers faced by users.

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