Human Rights and Drug Control: The False Dichotomy

by Saul Takahashi

Overview

It has become almost accepted knowledge within international policy circles that efforts against drug trafficking and drug abuse violate human rights, and that the entire international drug control regime needs to be changed (or even discarded altogether) to adopt a more 'rights respecting' approach. Though this view has been promoted by many prominent figures and organisations, the author of this book uses his expertise in both human rights and drug control to show that the arguments advanced in this area do not stand close scrutiny. The arguments are in fact based on selective and questionable interpretations of international human rights standards, and on a general notion – more and more clearly stated – that there is a human right to take drugs, and that any effort to combat drug abuse by definition violates this right. There is no such right in international law, and the author objects to the misuse of human rights language as a marketing tool to bring about a 'back door' legalisation of drugs. Human rights issues must be addressed, but that in no way means that the international drug control regime must be discarded, or that efforts against drugs must be stopped.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781849467063
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/11/2016
Series:	Studies in International Law , #59
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Saul Takahashi teaches human rights law at Aoyama Gakuin University, in Tokyo. His previous positions include Refugee Officer at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International, Drug Control Officer at the Secretariat of the International Narcotics Control Board, and Deputy Head of Office in Occupied Palestine for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. He has authored numerous publications in English and Japanese.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction 1

I Some Terminology Issues-Legalisation, Decriminalisation, and Depenalisation 10

II Use/Abuse/Consumption 14

2 Legal Standards and Regimes 16

I The International Drug Control Regime 19

The 1988 Convention and Criminalisation 26

The Treaty Monitoring Regime of International Drug Control 29

The Enforcement Powers of INCB 32

INCB, UNODC, and Human Rights 35

II Human Rights 42

The International Human Rights Regime 48

Human Rights Treaty Bodies and INCB 50

Charter-Based Bodies-The Human Rights Council 57

The Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) 60

III Article 33 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child 62

3 UNGASS and Developments in Latin America 69

I UNGASS 69

II Latin America: Regional Developments 72

III Latin America: Developments at the National Level 76

Bolivia 76

Uruguay 80

4 Drug Control: Violating Human Rights? 84

I At First, There Was 'Harm Reduction' 95

Substitution Treatment 101

Injection Rooms 105

Conclusion on Harm Reduction 109

II Human Rights as a Tool 110

Death Penalty 112

Law Enforcement and the Excessive Use of Force 120

Arbitrary Detention, III-Treatment and Forced Labour 128

Arbitrary Detention and the International Drug Control Conventions 137

III Persons who Abuse Drugs as a 'Vulnerable Group' 139

IV Militarisation of Drug Law Enforcement 145

Organised Crime 147

Pain Relief and Legalisation of Opium Poppy-Cultivation in Afghanistan 150

Pain Relief Globally 153

5 Mandated Treatment and Drug Courts 157

I Portugal 170

6 The 'Right to Abuse Drugs' 175

Afterword: Views of the Author 186

Index 195