Reforms ‘can’t end’ with legalised cannabis

Former New Zealand prime minister and current member of the International Commission Against the Death Penalty, Helen Clark, has praised Thailand for decriminalising cannabis, but has also called on the country to end capital punishment, especially for those convicted of drug offences.

Thailand praised

Speaking on the sidelines of the Harm Reduction International Conference 2023 (HR23), Ms Clark said Thailand is one of the countries in the world that has succeeded in decriminalising cannabis which she said was a very good step in stopping criminalisation.

“In Thailand, there have been prisons which have a huge number of people convicted of drug offences. [It is] totally unnecessary and wrong to criminalise people who are using drugs.

“We would save [money] immensely from the police system to the court system if we move away from the criminalisation [of drugs] and…