Newsbook | Illicit drugs

The WHO calls for decriminalisation

The UN convention prohibiting drugs must be overturned—according to the UN

By T.W.

JAMAICA, Uruguay, Colorado, Washington—more and more places are rebelling against the UN conventions that established the criminalisation of narcotics half a century ago. But the latest organisation to weigh in against the UN’s line is rather surprising. It is a branch of the UN itself.

A report just published by the World Health Organisation, an agency of the United Nations, makes a discreet but clear call to decriminalise drugs. And not just cannabis—the report goes as far as recommending the decriminalisation of injecting drugs, which implies the harder sort.

More from Newsbook

Our new daily edition for smartphones

Today we launch Espresso, a morning news briefing designed to be read on the go

Changing the climate debate

A major UN report on climate change, a new EU commission meets for the first time and America’s midterm election


Facing the old guard

JOKO WIDODO becomes Indonesia's seventh president, China’s elite meets for its annual conclave and a look at what rich countries are doing to stop the spread of Ebola