Utrecht, January 31, 2014

The Norwegian Nobel Committee
Henrik Ibsens gate 51
0255 Oslo, Norway

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

Herewith the Drugs Peace Institute has the honour to present to you the nomination of Mr. José Alberto Mujica Cordano, president of Uruguay, for the Nobel Peace Prize 2014 for his contribution to world peace by legalising cannabis cultivation and trade in his country. By taking this first step towards an end to the war on drugs in Uruguay, Mr. Mujica proposes a new drug control paradigm which focuses on public health, social development and human rights, that deserves the world’s full attention if there is to be an effective and humane alternative solution for the failed war on drugs.

We include in this public presentation the nomination by a group of professors of the German Schildower Kreis, which rejects the prohibition on scientific grounds and lauds Mr. Mujica for his courageous decision to look for change and offer other governments an alternative. Their reasoned admiration for the candidate and for his strategy of respect for selfdetermination and democracy creates hope for all those who suffer the consequences of this debilitating war and fosters inspiration for decision makers wishing to find the courage to shake off the yoke of prohibition.

We do hope that you will give full attention to their arguments, even when you yourself may belief that a better future is to be found in a world free of drugs, to be achieved by zero tolerance. Contrary to so many other splendid human undertakings that are nominated for your consideration, the liberation of cannabis, even when strictly controlled, might indeed seem morally reprehensible to you. We wish you the strength to consider seriously the contribution of José Mujica to world peace. His choices are supported by unbiased science.

This nomination has been organized by cannabis consumers, drugs criminals by society’s definition. Although we only seek to find the proper medicines for our illness or to free ourselves periodically from the dictatorship of lies and ideologies to find peace and meaning in the re-creation of our world, and although we do not harm ourselves or other people, mankind has determined that this crime is absolute. If the cannabis user wishes to stay out of the hands of organized crime he has to stay out of their trade. He has to cultivate his own plants or rely on other consumers, trade with them. To handle their consumption efficiently consumers have to organize: they become a criminal organization and qualify for the harshest punishments. There is no way out: to avoid criminality you have to become a criminal.

Through a history long chain of most undemocratically taken decisions humanity has arrived at the point where, at the apex of the consecration of our individual rights, drugs criminals have de facto been evicted from the new post-WWII human rights order. Their habits can claim no moral ground for protection. There is no safe haven in our world for users of illegal substances; arbitrariness rules their fate, and they may be tolerated today, persecuted tomorrow. This is history’s ‘holocaust in slow motion’.

Equally enclosed in this presentation is a Laudatio. It doesn’t speak about drug control policy but about the beneficent use of a plant of Mother Nature and about it’s Liberator. According to his own words, President Mujica doesn’t understand the meaning of this use. He didn’t smoke to not inhale, he didn’t inhale to not enjoy, he didn’t smoke at all but he opened the doors of history so that we all can say : I smoked, I inhaled, I enjoyed. We recommend José Mujica Cordano for his compassion with man.

It is said that to change the prohibition regime a big bang is needed. The legalisation of cannabis by Mujica may prove to be just that. Perhaps it’s only a detonator to trigger other explosions. Therefore we hope you will follow the example set by Alfred Nobel, your creator, who dynamited you onto the seat from where you judge all human efforts for peace. We wish you to take the lead and award the Nobel Peace Prize 2014 to José Mujica Cordano and blow with him the war on drugs out of the world. Believe us, millions and millions and millions more will be blowing with you. As always, for peace.

Adriaan Bronkhorst
President