Victory Against the War on Drugs!
The war on drugs has cost billions in tax money, funneled trillions of dollars into organized crime, cost countless lives, and achieved zero results.
Yet, for decades, any debate around ending the war on drugs has been quashed. In official circles, it's "taboo" to talk the about regulation or decriminalisation -- some even lose their jobs for doing so.
Then a group of former presidents formed The Global Commission on Drugs to boldly speak out for reform. They faced one problem -- politicians claimed they couldn't act because there was no public support for change! So Avaaz joined the fight.
We launched the campaign, and in one week, our community proved the politicians wrong, with over 600,000 Avaazers calling for an end to the war on drugs. The ex-presidents and billionaire Richard Branson called a press conference, presented their expert report proposing reform, received the Avaaz petition -- and the response was incredible! Over 2000 media articles were written (AP, IPS, The Guardian), virtually all of them positive!! The taboo was broken...
In a strategy meeting that afternoon, the ex-presidents repeatedly looked to our community to help take the campaign forward, stressing that only grass roots pressure can create the political will for action.
The next day, the Global Commission and Avaaz met with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. In 30 minutes of discussion, the Avaaz petition was presented and repeatedly cited as evidence of public demand for an end to the war. Ban took an important step and decided to create a task force to look at new solutions to the problem of drugs! A real and desperately needed debate has finally begun ...
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