Former Polish President Calls for Drug Law Liberalization

A number of prominent public figures, including former president of Poland Aleksander Kwasniewski and sociologist Zygmunt Bauman, have called for the liberalization of Polish drug laws.

Initiated by Krytyka Polityczna, an Open Society Foundations grantee, the letter states that criminalization of drug possession does not help to decrease illicit drug consumption. Instead, it distracts the attention and energy of the police from the real originators of the problem: mass producers and major and minor drug dealers. Signatories urge the Polish government to take an evidence-based approach to policy-making and to depenalize the possession of small amounts of psychoactive substances for personal use.

The complete text of the letter and list of signatories is available for download.