Do we need to reform international drug treaties as more countries legalize cannabis?
The international drug control treaties are endorsed by most member states of the United Nations (UN). The treaties prohibit the non-medical use of amphetamines, cannabis, cocaine and heroin. They aim to reduce the harmful use of prohibited drugs and facilitate access to these drugs for medical and scientific purposes. Critics claim that the treaties have failed to tackle non-medical use of prohibited drugs and have justified policies that conflict with UN human rights treaties by incarcerating large numbers of drug users. Hall's paper outlines types of policies that nations could adopt to address the different types of harm that different illicit drugs cause to users and others. Some would require treaty change, while others could be accomplished by more 'flexible interpretations' of treaty provisions by member states and UN agencies. His suggestions are: Cannabis: This is the strongest candidate for national policy experiments on different ways of regulating its ...