Re Global pact aims to end drug trade (June 9). Those who keep a
watchful eye on international political matters will find much to
ponder given the implications of the Global Drug Treaty.

While it is commendable that leaders from more than 200 nations would
put their differences aside in order to preserve "the future of
families on every continent," the arrangement reeks of hypocrisy given
the rhetoric of our modern times.

When activists call out for international labour standards, human
rights preservation, or global environmental treaties, we are told by
our prominent leaders that these institutional arrangements contradict
the dictum of free markets and, furthermore, are undesirable in an age
of global economic flows and benevolent trade agreements.

It's interesting how easily these same leaders can come together in
the name of suffocating a part of the economy that they cannot control.

Furthermore, the reasoning behind the agreement on narcotics is the
same message that humanists have been preaching for years in the name
of other causes.

Do not sweatshops, income disparities and human rights abuses "erode
the foundation of democracies, corrupt the integrity of market
economies" as well?

Is that not a "struggle for human freedom"?

Marc Flynn
Pickering