WHEN you’re worth nearly $7 billion, you don’t really think twice about pissing off the United Nations.

Sir Richard Branson has done just that and left the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime scrambling to cover themselves after he leaked an official document extolling the virtues of decriminalising illicit drugs.

Branson said he was “delighted” by the policy content of the two page document but feared the UN would have a last-minute change of heart. So the airline mogul, who sits on the Global Commission on Drug Policy, leaked the document, titled Decriminalisation of Drug Use and Possession for Personal Consumption, online.

The previously embargoed paper states that liberalisation of laws on controlled substances should be carried out worldwide. It argues that “arrest and incarceration are disproportionate measures” for drug possession offences.

Taking too his personal blog, Branson explained in detail why he chose to leak to paper and threw his support behind the policy approach contained in it.

“The paper spells out in clear terms and based on extensive evidence: there are strong arguments for treating drugs as a health issue and not imprisoning or otherwise criminalising people for personal use or possession of drugs,” he wrote.

As I outline here, drugs should be treated as a health issue. Hope today brings that a little closer to reality http://t.co/zoXmZKESRA — Richard Branson (@richardbranson) October 19, 2015

The UNODC has been under pressure for some time to make a clear statement with regard to decriminalisation of drug possession and use. Other UN agencies including the World Health Organisation and UNAIDS have been steadfast in their opposition to drug users facing criminal sanctions on health and human rights grounds.

As it turns out, the billionaire was right to worry. Since the leak the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime has withdrawn the paper, saying it doesn’t represent official policy after it received pressure from at least one country, reports the BBC.