The UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, and the UK’s Misuse of Drugs Act derived from it, result in censorship of scientific research, says a leading neuropsychopharmacologist and Beckley Foundation collaborator. There is growing evidence that cannabis, ecstasy and psychedelic drugs have viable therapeutic potential, but legislation effectively prohibit clinical researchers from determining their value and developing effective medicines for diseases that are currently difficult to treat. The contrast between the ease with which heroin can be kept by hospitals compared to cannabis highlights the inconsistency and poor rationale of the law as it stands.
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BF Drug Policy Initiatives
The Beckley Foundation is dedicated to providing a rigorous, independent review of global drugs policy, which aims to reduce the harms associated with both the misuse of drugs and the policies that aim to control them. The Beckley Foundation has been influential in the development of many novel policy initiatives over the last decade.
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Roadmaps to Reforming the UN Drug Conventions
The three UN Drug Conventions of 1961, 1971 and 1988 currently impose a ‘one-size-fits-all’ prohibitionist approach to drug policy throughout the world. This report, released December 2012, explains in detail how the Conventions could be amended in order to give...
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Cannabis Commission
"That which is prohibited cannot easily be regulated" The Beckley Foundation Convened this Report due to the global increase in the prevalence of cannabis use. The fundamental changes in the global situation since cannabis came under the control of the international narcotics treaties in 1961.To analyse the latest scientific evidence on the potential harms of cannabis ...
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The Global Initiative for Drug Policy Reform
Despite governments spending globally in excess of $100 billion a year in fighting the war on drugs, there has been a clear long-term pattern of increasing availability and use, particularly of those drugs that cause the most harm. The Initiative for Global Drug Policy Reform aims to promote health-oriented policies based upon scientific evidence and to reform the UN ...
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Public Letter
The Beckley Foundation Public Letter was first published in the Times and the Guardian in November 2011. It is signed by 9 Presidents, 13 Nobel Prize winners, and a host of other distinguished world figures – and the list is still growing.
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BF Seminars
The Beckley Foundation has organised a series of seminars that allow politicians and experts to discuss drug policy issues. The aim of the series is to achieve a rational overview of the scientific, medical, social, political and economic issues surrounding the use and abuse of drugs, both legal and illegal, promoting evidence-based practice in all jurisdictions.
