donald trump calls his meeting with kim jong un in north korea a great honor but as accused back home of squandering american influence. hong kong police used tear gas as protesters and the occupation of parliament comes as the terror the 22nd on a bus or gets handed from britain to china. and the e.u. commission. delays the blocks i met with the state department over who get the jobs. those are the headlines this hour you can find more on these and many other stories for now there is so franco.

welcome to sophie and sophie shevardnadze the global war on drugs has been lasting for decades but new substances are being developed and drop dealing schools are multiplying and violence persists is just a lost battle for humanity well to talk about this i'm joined by u.t.c. daughter of the executive director of the united nations office on drugs and crime . while the nations of the world step up their drug efforts boosting operations against cartels and increasing seas use drug production and the abuse of them continue to rise despite those efforts with the mafia constantly devising new substances and ways to deliver them does the international community have enough strength to enforce drug prohibition globally what do the debates. legalizing drugs

bring to the fight against the mafia and will it ever be one u.t.c. though to for executives director of the united nations office on drugs and crime welcome to the show it is great to have you with us mr if you thought of for more than half a century the wall has been fighting a war on drugs and it is a fight that has the u.n. support however you know better than anyone the drug use and production are as high as ever new drugs are being introduced in violence remains a serious side effect i mean 50 years of challenging the drug industry had on and there is not even a dent on it yet the united nations is clear that its course is correct how so. 1st of all i would like to welcome you all from vienna i had quarters of the year in office on drugs crime and indeed is that very timely. interview as

well launching a new world tragedy poor indeed. the sum somehow united nations a strength to support member states in the dealing was a real drug problem i would not use it warm warm dry because it was never been used within the united nations context but at the same time we have to bear in mind that . just in to soudan 17. $170000000.00 people have used drugs or what was a road which is more or less stable statistics compare but areas year as there is a slow growth but this is gross is proportionate to the growth of the road population it means that the situation is dramatic but not as dramatic as it is presented by some. media also

there are some successes and of course there is a increase in pres action of all known types of drugs i mean. opiates in afghanistan in latin america synthetic drugs everywhere in the road but this gross is a little bit of set but i didn't please in seizures by more efficient work of local floor enforcement to prevent illicit dr rafiq and. that's why the overall statistics. more or less stable some says he doesn't want oregon why was legalizing weed you've said that wasn't the answer now some years of past larry why has been made legal in canada is spreading across the united states is this legalization wave hindering the work of your organization. i must say

that so far the absolute majority of member states states but is to direct them to open the bensons i firmly against legalisation of drugs that is a position which has been confirmed recently in march ministerial meeting here in vienna and i will ministerial meeting adopted to ministerial declare ation and the firm has ever been so full city direct control can then sense it should is arrest some exceptions canada. you're away and some states in the united states but so far this thread is not developing and it's really a storm. controlled substances which is cannabis. does not affect my child the activity is so united nations office of that i was and that i'm always aware following close the these threads was concerned and actually we have notice that in the united states for instance some states where money while his leg

allies. didn't it is out in. stopping the black market it continues to exist that is through so when talking about the drug issue mr good data should ask the sizes prevention and treatment and he was the one who presided over the decriminalization reforms in portugal which are hailed as success does the fact that his secretary general now means the un stance on drugs will lean towards recommend dick de criminalization or his promoting of the global balanced approach to the world drug problem which come by supplied adoption and demanded adoption loring's was front and treatment today billet deshaun then prevents that is through direct i'm certain that only one in 7 that i do to persons have access to through appropriate medical treatment

a global which is of course not appropriate at that stage as far as they came in it is a shame many countries are promoting decriminalization or rather dippin it is a show of offenses related to the procession of drugs in smoke one to 2 for personal use or some other to admit if true it. but it doesn't mean that we should be more lenient to is the criminals with dr traffickers so a group called the global commission on drug policy which lists kofi are now on and moderates member says that punitive policies are only helping crime and it's time for more humane approaches how drug and geos overwhelmingly support this idea leaders of countries that have been hurt by the drug wars are calling for a stop to provide mission is the united nations support for this idea is only a matter of time in 10 years 20 years or never. first of all i have to

confess that i am not there as a the great majority of enjoys are supporting this approach. the meeting with them break of the vienna as a meeting is a joke i made to sit in. the year and you know to see that waters. some time when i meet with. among themselves who even more than was me a great majority of n.g.o.s also opposed to attempts through the glazed drugs but is always happens the majority is more silent in their minority. so what do you say to their argument that legalizing drug use will hurt the illicit drug mafia more than fighting them it seems to me you are not convinced by this line of thought right why expectations that legalisation of

cannabis would reduce the legal market and unfortunately it's confirmed and we'll have more and more evidence that. dr market exists expresses the moving drugs to schools to other places where they should not go. so. dr. multifaceted criminal organisation. does issue its reach from one criminal activities to another criminal activities even even to support to terrorism so we must rivera careful with that we should understand that. as it is not my opinion this is the opinion of the majority of member states and firmed in many documents adopted in the united nations context that this and the proper led to believe that legalisation would help to to come but crime it can only benefit criminals. so informing drug policy should their stories be more

concerned with the mafia side of things i mean all the violence exploitation corruption ties with terrorism or the human health side of things as in preventing epidemics of drug use and the consequences which one. only only a balanced approach can help us. of course law enforcement must be supported but is it is not enough the best way of prevention is the prevention of the early stage but also treatment debilitation and integration of that i could do to a person and to society oh so very important task of the international community when we come by and boss supply and demanded action when we put in accordance with human rights standards was a core in accordance with international treaties with then hope to do such see it.

but look at mexico i mean the drug mafia east threatening the functioning of this state itself the war against drug cartels involves hangs and helicopters but that doesn't deter people from joining the cartels i mean especially if that is the only job on the horizon for them so mexico and countries like mexico will never will against the cartels unless they fix their economy right mexico is making huge efforts to come but organized crime declaiming know as you as you call them. groups as a multifaceted criminal groups dealing doing many types of organized crime including drugs of course illicit director africa but also. many french are in some drugs including opioids in mexico. it is a very difficult task. where work and what it was it was mexico was an office of

you know supporting mexico. and we believe that only way it was in the international reaches international norms were going to come by and fighting organized crime fighting drugs where is more attention to people protecting their rights protecting the rights to health. providing them all necessary support. from drug addiction he was there is no demand on drugs there will be no supply it's clear. all right mr fidel so we're going to take a short break right now and when we're back we'll continue talking to. the executive director of the united nations office on drugs and crime discussing international efforts and fighting drug trafficking and production stay with us.

join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to us from the world of politics sports business i'm showbusiness i'll see you then. my son doing drugs my nephews was still in drugs my sister just with doing drugs it was like an epidemic of drug abuse america's public enemy number one in the united states is drug abuse. the users in the prison population sewer we started treating sick people people who were. these drugs like criminals while i was on the hill. the war on drugs. with the number of

people who are in prison for. a long sentence for minor minor offenders in the drug trade it's a lot watching your children grow up in issue in way and say by as you're walking out of this. we're back was you know to see doctors the executive director of the united nations office on drugs and crime talking about fighting the problem of drug abuse and

trafficking so this is you know a president trump is struggling to build a wall on the us mexico border and one of his main arguments is that the war will help calm but drug trafficking can it. my impression was that the wall was mostly destined to to prevent this migration. the united states experienced the. crisis as you know although last year. and significant decline in the number of this roadway this. crisis but still that is one of the major problems of north america. so expanding to other continents whatever could be done to prevent. trafficking but also use. of medications or diversion of medication.

this could have as a people but once again what is important to provide people with. medical service medical care and prevention efforts they could play a major role we also have an example of profit bishan that works in japan for for instance japan's tough loss enable the government to claim a very low addiction rate do you feel the deputy's approach is worth studying and maybe i mean waiting direct anthro conventions are flexible and say allow qantas a lot of flexibility is true or to make sure that all measures that they can connect go to through the conventions. of data. better fit for purpose of the national national legislation national conditions national traditions what what waters through the house bunch meant including the.

death penalty is not helping. to prevent the drug use and drug abuse in the dish or direct traffic and. we don't see any signs that harsh or more moderate punishment is it has a real impact on the flow of the raf's what is important is international cooperation because we're dealing with transnational crime was so full of drugs coming from one source tended to remain in contradictions and into the distant nation so more and better that british use it is better to deal with their own drug problem. so whether society should be punitive or tolerant towards drug users is a subject of massive debate but in countries with radical anti-drug got it it's there is room for abuse of tough drug laws for instance just recently our

journalists russian journalists iran google north whom the police tried to frame as a drug dealer how to keep up the fight against drugs with legal tools and not tempt the authorities into be using the system. csound say's history if the rule of law biden's. protection of. human rights you know basis people have the right. to be protected from all kinds of abuse or simply good info from law enforcement authorities to just live. i want to talk a bit about countries like latin america where farmers turn to growing drop crops out of economic interest because nothing else brings them as much money as coca leaves for instance or in afghanistan where people depend on the poppy to survive how do you do tell them to stop growing drugs because well it's really bad but when

they have to choose between that and hunger they always will choose doing that. election in america treated the rest of the major coca produces a lot bureau and what we're doing with have important programs multi 1000000 programs of supporting this conference in developing countries are going to have livelihoods. in the cottage and farmers to produce note cocoa but rather. food like. like. like. trees and many other useful things of course that is less attractive to them but it is more predictable for them for their families for their futures as special is that if they have lent those that difficult stick and. a few more free. to leave and they said to produce they go to livelihoods

for them for themselves but also for their families and we'll have a good examples including here in austria where the local investors will companies buy these sort of products from colombia for. i'm piro and selling can euro as far as i'm going to stand and serve that is another problem we're also trying to be fell for but unfortunately the overall situation in this country or political instability and security. deduces capacity is too and that's why unfortunately we're seeing unprecedented record level of. resurrection of heroin production in afghanistan. and i've heard you say that it's very important to engage the local population in fighting drug production in mafia crime groups are usually behind this business can we expect ordinary folks to get in confrontation

with this dangerous people one their families may get killed and their homes may end up burnt. you know i'm traveling to a lot i'm visiting calder's contrarious including can lead in america ever again and. can tell you that speech into local farmers i made a conclusion that moral is prepared to drop. they're going to have to put up but actually there are a ration but they need more support from local authorities they need stable markets for their leases products they need. better infrastructure and they need support from big companies. supermarkets if it is done as it is being done and sometimes there are some that america would hope was to be successful operation and people will continue to shrink from. the legal.

so even if you bomb all the poppy and can obese people are using more and more since saturday drugs so chemistry has taken over nature in this field harder to detect easier to make are syntactic drugs more of a danger to society as than those which have to be grown 1st. unfortunately there was a crisis if it meant if it's i mean crisis and they share is it's as a scale a financial disaster in concert it's like malaysia. neighboring countries. even japan with half of the problem of you say your substances which a developing so fast that governments and international can is ations do not have enough time with schedules to put them under international drive money toward a gun control that is a real problem and in many countries including russia synthetic drugs becoming more

prevalent and so additional direct like heroin. and opium and more. so will we have a liver in existing for your sake with your substances here in vienna and we're trying to devise counters on the appearance of the markets of new types of synthetic drugs here like everything else drugs have also gone through this 21st century change i mean you don't even have to go to a shady part of town to get drugs anymore there's websites on a dark nat for everything these days how does that change the way you work i mean how do you do what's this relatively new headache. that is a real headache to not to because date so far as a proportion of the share of this dark net traffic and is not comparable to the overall amount of illusions that after rafiq and but it is a growing class the growing. growing gets around and

a day care of it and that means that we need to develop more quickly international cooperation in terms of cyber crime which includes the types of. full use of cyber and not only for drugs but also for other illicit activities that is a sensitive issue countries may have different opinions on that but. i believe it was a good will with the spirit of eunice and compromise they could find solution as to some. of. the cyber crime including the use of cyberspace for illicit director africa as you said so what's more important dealing with the supply chain with poppy fields and coke up plantations or shutting down the marketplaces. borth important of course we need to start from the source

but also the traffic and interruption of traffic and is very important we give you one example where facing unprecedented. in the trees and with alteration on production of. opium poppy never again is that the election of opium and heroin is growing but just same time will have less and less. heroin or boom. in those on the route from afghanistan sort of central asia to russia most of the road was used to transport. 10 percent of all. of heroin but as action in afghanistan now it would be less than one percent and there would be different factors to one of them of course is a better international cooperation and would you consent to a share better coordination before enforcement activities better efforts to prevention and deserters one over the good news thank you very much for this

interview or talking to you if you do it just for executive director of the united nations office on drugs and crime discussing the air national efforts and combat a drug trafficking and organized crime that's it for this edition cell phone call see you next time. u.s. china talks are back on track but a 2nd front has opened up the u.s.

europe trade is heading into a storm arend is again in the center of the debate also the circus has come to town and it's called the democratic process. during the great depression which i'm old enough to remember there was most of my family were unemployed working. there wasn't it was bed you know much worse objectively than today but there was an expectation that things were going to get better. there was a real sense of hopefulness there isn't today today's america where shaped by the turn principles of concentration of wealth and power. reduced democracy attack solo doubt engineer elections manufacture consent and other principles according to no on chomsky one set of rules for the rich opposite.

that's what happens when you put her into the hands of narrows of will which will is dedicated to increasing power for just as you'd expect one of the most influential intellectuals of our time speaks about the modern civilization of america. by the way bankrupt press or bother to back up what all that is or is about as they perceive them as this is completely divorced from. the justice department said today the inmate population of federal and state prisons in this country is at an all time high. the public sees a need for more prisons because crime is the number one concern to me willingness

to. too many inmates in not enough space. in their crime another. 100 already have and i'm with the start of what. was a. combination of an american woman is going to. prison time going or just want to. die. but others are going to die. a shocking new number was released today and it deserves our undivided attention one out of every 100 americans is now behind bars walked up to prison or in jail.

through the most important thing. is to talk from your heart if you have more than one child give a like that overall message but then do an individual one to each child throw them a kiss talk to them about what you do daily the rest should be just you if you've written a poor we've had people pray we've had people saying one guy showed his little boy how to shoot a basket the creative. these are gifts to your children. the families are punished right along with. the people don't think so but the collateral consequences of somebodies incarceration affects not just the whole family but it affects the whole community and affects you is an individual or the you know it or not and whether you know that person or not that's incarcerated.