science

Global Commission on Drug Policy

Global Commission on Drug Policy is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Global Commission on Drug Policy rather than just read about it. In short: The Global Commission on Drug Policy (GCDP) is a panel of world leaders and intellectuals, with a secretariat based in Geneva, Switzerland. In June 2011, the commission said: "The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world." The emphasis in drug policy on harsh law enforcement over four decades has not accomplished its goal of banishing drugs and has…

Key takeaways

Global Commission on Drug Policy belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
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Connect Global Commission on Drug Policy to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Global Commission on Drug Policy from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Global Commission on Drug Policy (GCDP) is a panel of world leaders and intellectuals, with a secretariat based in Geneva, Switzerland. In June 2011, the commission said: "The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world." The emphasis in drug policy on harsh law enforcement over four decades has not accomplished its goal of banishing drugs and has in fact spawned wide, dramatic eruptions of violence, the report continued. By way of alternative, the GCDP report "advocates decriminalizing drug use by those who do no harm to others." The commission was formed to "bring to the international level an informed, science-based discussion about humane and effective ways to reduce the harm caused by drugs to people and societies. [It built] on the experience of the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy" and extended to West Africa in 2013–14 via an initiative of GCPD board member and former UN secretary general Kofi Annan and the West Africa Commission on Drugs. It is hosted by the Geneva Graduate Institute, a graduate school located in Geneva. At year-end 2017, GCDP board member George Shultz and economist and former secretary of finance in Mexico Pedro Aspe reaffirmed the message of the commission in a New York Times op-ed. The commission has been successively chaired by Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the former president of Brazil, Ruth Dreifuss, former president of Switzerland, and Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand. The Secretariat handles the daily operations of the commission under the leadership of its director, Khalid Tinasti.

Membership Members of the Global Commission on Drug Policy:

Louise Arbour, former high commissioner for human rights, Canada Pavel Bém (Czech Republic) former mayor of Prague, member of the Parliament, Czech Republic Richard Branson (United Kingdom), entrepreneur, advocate for social causes, founder of the Virgin Group, co-founder of the Elders Fernando Henrique Cardoso (Brazil), former president of Brazil (former chair) Maria Cattaui (Switzerland), former secretary-general of the International Chamber of Commerce Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand and administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Nick Clegg (United Kingdom), former deputy prime minister Ruth Dreifuss (Switzerland), former president of Switzerland and minister of home affairs (chair in 2016) Mohamed ElBaradei (Egypt 'in exile'), former director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency from 1997 to 2009 and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Geoff Gallop (Australia), former premier of Western Australia César Gaviria (Colombia), former president of Colombia Anand Grover (India), former United Nations special rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health Michel Kazatchkine (France), UN secretary-general's special envoy on HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and former executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Aleksander Kwaśniewski (Poland), former president of Poland Ricardo Lagos (Chile), former president of Chile Kgalema Motlanthe (South Africa), former president of South Africa Olusegun Obasanjo (Nigeria), former president of Nigeria George Papandreou (Greece), former prime minister of Greece José Ramos-Horta, former prime minister and president of Timor-Leste Juan Manuel Santos (Colombia), former president of Colombia Michel Sidibé (Mali), former UNAIDS executive director and under-secretary-general of the United Nations, and former minister of health and social affairs of Mali Javier Solana (Spain), former European Union high representative for the common foreign and security policy Cassam Uteem (Mauritius), former president of Mauritius Ernesto Zedillo (Mexico), former president of Mexico

Former members Kofi Annan (Ghana), former chairman of the Kofi Annan Foundation and secretary-general of the United Nations (deceased 2018; board member in memoriam) Carlos Fuentes (Mexico), writer and public intellectual (deceased May 15, 2012; board member in memoriam) Asma Jahangir (Pakistan), human rights activist, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Arbitrary, Extrajudicial and Summary Executions (deceased 2018; board member in memoriam) Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru), writer and public intellectual, Nobel Prize laureate (deceased 2025; board member in memoriam) Jorge Sampaio (Portugal), former president of Portugal (deceased 2021; board member in memoriam) George Shultz (United States), former United States secretary of state (deceased 2021; former honorary chair; board member in memoriam) Thorvald Stoltenberg (Norway), former minister of foreign affairs and United Nations high commissioner for refugees (deceased 2018; board member in memoriam) Paul Volcker (United States), former chairman of the Federal Reserve and of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board (deceased 2019; board member in memoriam) John C. Whitehead (United States), banker and civil servant, chair of the World Trade Center Memorial (deceased 2015; board member in memoriam)

Reactions to the 2011 report Archived 2018-01-18 at the Wayback Machine

Immediate Gabor Maté, a Hungarian-Canadian physician who specializes in study and treatment of addiction, was interviewed on Democracy Now! about the report. Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter wrote an op-ed in The New York Times explicitly endorsing the recommendations of the commission, saying they were in line with the policies of his administration; and saying it was the policies of the succeeding Reagan administration which had moved U.S. policy so far toward punitive alternatives. Carter's piece elicited several published responses, including one from an analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy who drew attention to the current White House Office of National Drug Control Policy's immediate rejection of GCDP's recommendations and defense of the "balanced drug control efforts" of the U.S. federal government; and others which agreed and disagreed with Carter's views. Brian Lehrer had Ethan Nadelmann, founder and director of the Drug Policy Alliance, on Lehrer's radio show to detail the GCDP report and how that might impact U.S. anti-drug policies. Sir Ronald Sanders, a consultant and former Caribbean diplomat, wrote in favor of the recommendations and endorsement of President Carter's expressed views.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Global Commission on Drug Policy

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Global Commission on Drug Policy claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Global Commission on Drug Policy before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Global Commission on Drug Policy ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Global Commission on Drug Policy

In research: Global Commission on Drug Policy appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Global Commission on Drug Policy in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Global Commission on Drug Policy is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Drug policy organizations, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Global Commission on Drug Policy outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Global Commission on Drug Policy in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Global Commission on Drug Policy means in your own words.
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Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Global Commission on Drug Policy in simple terms?

Why does Global Commission on Drug Policy matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Global Commission on Drug Policy?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Global Commission on Drug Policy.