New Internationalist

If drugs were legal, what would happen?

As drug-related violence soars and use steadily increases, even political leaders, ex-drug tsars and former champions of the ‘war on drugs’ are admitting that it’s been an abject – and costly – failure. So what’s the alternative to prohibition

September 2012, Issue 455

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The Big Story

Time to legalize drugs – yes, all of them!
The war on drugs won't work. NI Editor Vanessa Baird explains why regulation is the only way to break the criminal hold and make drugs safer.
What’s your poison?
Science and law at odds over drugs.
My body,shot,left lying
A dispatch from the drug-warfrontline by Mexican journalist Sandra Rodríguez Nieto.
Africa’s first narco state
How Guinea Bissau got hooked.
What would legalization look like?
Your questions answered by medic Max Rendall.
Illegal drugs – The FACTS
The demand for illegal drugs is solid and the trade in them resilient - in spite of expensive and punitive attempts to stop it.
Fair trade drugs
Not such a crazy idea. Tom Feiling thinks ahead.

Features

Why do some conflicts get more media coverage than others?
Nick Harvey considers the role – and the agenda – of the global media in making the news.

Agenda

Fighting impunity in Colombia
Building protest in Sudan
Magdi el Gizouli offers a low down on the range of groups challenging the regime of President al-Bashir
Putin: the gloves are off
Pursuing justice for rape crimes in DRC
PLUS - Scratchy Lines by Simon Kneebone
PLUS - Reasons to be cheerful

Argument

Should charities steer clear of celebrities? Join the debate!
Professors Mark Wheeler and Ilan Kapoor go head-to-head over the impact of Bono and Clooney's star power.

Mixed Media

Election Special
Ry Cooder gets ready for action with the ‘Mutt Romney Blues’.
PLUS - A five-star musical intifada from Ramzi Aburedwan
About Elly directed by Asghar Farhadi
It’s a Girl
The deadly power of three words – It’s a Girl – in ashocking new doc on gendercide.
Revolt in Syria by Stephen Starr
The Revolt in Syria deeply understood by author Stephen Starr

Regulars

Mark Engler. Obama: a better adversary.
Steve Parry. Fun run? Someone’s having a laugh.
PLUS - Polyp’s Big Bad World cartoon.
Letters
Country Profile: Yemen
Making Waves
Kushal Chakrabarti, the self-confessed geek supporting students through microfinance in the Majority World.
Southern Exposure
Asef Ali Mohammad photographs the minority Hazara in Pakistan.
Puzzle Page
Who inspires Alice Walker?
From earliest memories to the joy of old age, author Alice Walker reveals who and what inspires her.