The campaign for a 'drug-free world' is costing lives
Global policy on drug control is unrealistic, and has taken a harsh toll on millions of the world’s poorest people
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Drug control efforts across the world are a threat to human dignity and the right to life. The first problem lies with the founding aspiration of the international drug system: to create a “drug-free society”, which countries have sought to achieve through prohibition, enforced by repression. The past four UN high commissioners for human rights have repeatedly asked countries to address the violation of fundamental rights in drug control. On 15 March in Vienna, a coalition of UN agencies, human rights experts and a few progressive governments, led by the United Nations Development Programme and the International Centre on Human Rights and Drug Policy at the University of Essex, launched the international guidelines on human rights and drug policy.
