Support. Don’t punish is a global advocacy campaign calling for better drug policies that prioritize public health and human rights.
The campaign aims to promote drug policy reform, and to change laws and policies which impede access to harm reduction interventions.
The Support. Don’t Punish campaign aligns with the following key messages:
[ul]
[li]The drug control system is broken and in need of reform[/li][li]People who use drugs should no longer be criminalised[/li][li]People involved in the drug trade at low levels, especially those involved for reasons of subsistence or coercion, should not face harsh or disproportionate punishments[/li][li]The death penalty should never be imposed for drug offences[/li][li]Drug policy in the next decade should focus on health and harm reduction[/li][li]By 2020, 10% of global resources expended on drug policies should be invested in public health and harm reduction.[/li][/ul] http://supportdontpunish.org
The irony is that I stumbled on to this message while watching a video on youtube about a 63 year old man charged in court with others including a school girl for various drug offences.
Joseph Nkaissery is shown at an event where the Support. Don’t Punish poster is displayed. I wonder if he read it or even noticed it.
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you should probably buy some for your wife,she will enjoy the trips.
the holy herb is the only drug i abuse beside coffee,caffeine,nicotine and ethanol
In Malaysia cannabis possession over 200 grams will get you a death sentence. Why should a person be killed for some powder, or flower buds? How does that benefit anybody in any way? Do you wake up skipping and giddy with joy because a single mom was sentenced to death or life in prison and that news added some chicken feet in your sufuria? Why is it so easy for one human being to wish death on another?
watu waache kupenda pesa yenye hawatachoka. waende kwa kazi ya mjengo kama wengine…greed is the root of all evil
ION- when in high school if you were found with cigarettes you were made to smoke them in a sitting…Peddlars of illegal substances should be made to use their merchandise at a go, hata kama ni heroin, if what they sell is so good for others…did i hear someone say wale wa fangi watachizi?
I would go for Punish and Support. Especially in this current Kenya. We need to discourage new addictions by punishing,not heavily though,the addicts then supporting them,once the punishing is done. Supporting n not punishing the addicts sends the wrong message to would be addicts.
What you’re talking about then is revenge. We cannot have a public policy based on retaliation. We have to push through policies that help people with their problems without being judgemental.
Wouldn’t forcing a person to smoke a whole pack of cigarettes help him on his way to becoming a nicotine addict? Just as counterproductive as that is, so is sentencing an 18 year old child to prison for possession. That person spends what are supposed to be some of the most productive years of his life around hardened criminal and when he comes out of prison he cannot find employment and has to turn to crime to support himself.
The problem with that idea is that not only is punishment counterproductive very often the support part will be sacrificed. Unfortunately most people only care for the kill drug dealers part and many politicians use exploit this fact by presenting themseleves as hard fighters against the war on drugs. Not only that, prison, death penalties do absolutely nothing to discourage drug use because the risk of being caught is low. You have to realize that addicts do not have a great time doing drugs. Addiction is emotionally and financially draining on the addict and it takes huge effort to quit. That is why we have to focus on helping people and not punishing them. Punishment benefits no one. Support can change the lives of not just addicts but whole families.
Merits aside, I find it interesting that this campaign is getting steam at the same time as the legalisation of marijuana in the states. Naweza sema pesa imemwagwo?