The Negative Impact of Drug Control on Public Health

As Minister of Home Affairs and the first woman president of the Swiss Confederation, Ruth Dreifuss spearheaded efforts to implement a set of drug policies to combat rampant drug abuse in Switzerland during the late 80s and early 90s, at the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Those policies, based on the principle of harm reduction, are now considered some of the best in the world. Madame Dreifuss is one among 22 commissioners on the Global Commission on Drug Policy and she’s here in the lead up to the 2016 United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Drugs. We speak to her about the Swiss model, why the "War on Drugs" has failed and opposition to the harm reduction agenda.