A new think-tank is calling for the legalisation of all recreational drugs within a specific regulatory framework.

The South African Drug Policy Initiative (SADPI) is made up of some of the country's leading professors of medicine and believes the criminalisation of drugs and drug users causes greater harm than drugs themselves.

Dr Keith Scott is one of the co-founders of SADPI.

It should be a fundamental right for people to use any drugs they want.

Scott says politicians have consistently got it wrong when it comes to trying to win the war against drugs.

Every new official who comes in wants to be tough on crime and they start with drugs and then they make the same mistakes and the consumption of drugs goes up and the supply goes up and the crime goes up.

The group believes legal regulation is the only solution to an escalating problem.

We want to use similar regulatory platforms as we use for alcohol to regulate these other drugs from heroin to magic mushrooms.

Find out more about SAPDI's objectives by listening to the full interview below:

This article first appeared on CapeTalk : Is it time to legalise heroin and cocaine to win the war on drugs?

Read the original post:

Is it time to legalise heroin and cocaine to win the war on drugs? - 702