politicians

Politicians and the drugs trade

Recent months have seen a wave of politicians arrested throughout the world with varying degrees of involvement in the global drugs trade. Mario Villaneuva, the former mayor of Cancun, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Mexico has been extradited to the United states by the DEA for allegedly pocketing millions of dollars in bribes in order to help one of the notorious Mexican drug cartels ship 200 tons of cocaine across the border.

    Politicians take drugs too

    Politicians’ new willingness to admit drug use highlights not only the hypocrisy of current drug law, but also the reality of an unjust society where some individuals are punished for using illicit drugs while others can use them with relative impunity.

      Donald Tusk: Nice People Take Drugs

      This card is one of a deck produced by Release to highlight politicians' hypocrisy towards drugs use.

      Donald Tusk is Poland's Prime Minister and co-founder of the centre-right party Civic Platform. The party combines liberal stances on the economy with conservative stances on social and ethical issues, including opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage, soft drug decriminalisation, civil unions and euthanasia.

        Gianfranco Fini: Nice People Take Drugs

        This card is one of a deck produced by Release to highlight politicians’ hypocrisy towards drug use.

          Julia Gillard: Nice People Take Drugs

          This card is one of a deck produced by Release to highlight politicians’ hypocrisy towards drug use.

          Julia Gillard became the new Australian Prime Minister on the 24th of June 2010.

            Alistair Darling: Nice People Take Drugs

            This card is one of a deck produced by Release to highlight politicians’ hypocrisy towards drug use.

            In 2007, current shadow chancellor Alistair Darling told GQ he had occasionally smoked cannabis in his youth. He claims that "if you're not honest, people will assume the worst."

            His response to Obama's admission to using cocaine was:

            "It's not like he's taking it now, is it?"

              Ruth Kelly: Nice People Take Drugs

              This card is one of a deck produced by Release to highlight politicians’ hypocrisy towards drug use.

                Francis Maude: Nice People Take Drugs

                Francis Maude Nice People Take Drugs

                This card is one of a deck produced by Release to highlight politicians’ hypocrisy towards drug use.

                Maude admitted trying cannabis "a few times" while he was a student.  "This isn't a big story - it was when I was a student 25 years or so ago," the Conservative Politician.

                  Jacqui Smith: Nice People Take Drugs

                  This card is one of a deck produced by Release to highlight politicians’ hypocrisy towards drug use.

                  Jacqui Smith admitted that she smoked cannabis while she was at university but later regretted it. She is now a passionate supporter of a non-scientific based drug policy and she publicly denounced government advisor Professor Nutt when he suggested that Britain’s drug laws should be based on the individual harm of the drug.

                    Arnold Schwarzenegger: Nice People Take Drugs

                    This card is one of a deck produced by Release to highlight politicians’ hypocrisy towards drug use.

                    Current Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger does what he feels like doing, yet locks people up for what they like doing. While fortunately for Arnie, cannabis has legally been decriminalised in California, citizens can still be jailed for years for the use of other substances.

                    He was filmed smoking a joint in the 1977 documentary "Pumping Iron" and claims that cannabis is not a drug, it's a "leaf".

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