INTERNATIONAL DRUG POLICY

That this House commends Health Poverty Action's report of February 2015, Casualties of War: How the War on Drugs is harming the world's poorest, which highlights how the predominant drug policy of prohibition has undermined attempts to tackle poverty and improve health; notes that this is confirmed by evidence presented in the report of January 2015, Drugs and Development: The Great Disconnect from the Global Drug Policy Observatory at Swansea University; is concerned at the alarming violence fuelled by the increased militarisation of repressive responses to the drugs trade; acknowledges the opportunity afforded by the UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on Drugs in 2016 to help the poorest and most marginalised; and calls on the Government to recognise that drug policy should be treated as a health and development issue, not a crime and security issue, and to advocate this approach at UNGASS.