GLOBAL DRUG ARRANGEMENT JUST REEKS OF HYPOCRISY

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

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski