Context: The Vienna Non-Government Committee’s Asia Pacific Forum - Tuesday 21 Nov 2023
The Rotary Action Group for Addiction Prevention (Oceania) submitted the following response to a global challenge put forward by the United Nations in relation to UN Drug Control Conventions:
UN Challenge 11: ‘responses not in conformity with the three international drug control conventions and not in conformity with applicable international human rights obligations pose a challenge for the implementation of joint commitments based on the principle of common and share responsibility.’
We support a Statement on the above challenge made by Ms. Jagjit Pavadia, Member, International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) presented on 25 October 2023. In particular, we support the following statement. We also provide an example of how states parties can be misled, under a guise of ‘human rights’ intentions.
‘That any measures adopted by States which permit the use of narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances for any purpose other than legitimate medical or scientific use are incompatible with the legal obligations incumbent upon State Parties to the international drug control conventions. A prominent example is the trend, in a limited number of countries, to legalize the use of cannabis for non-medical purposes’.
Example:
DFA and RAG AP wish to point out that some state parties are manoeuvring around the issue of legalization by using the term ‘decriminalization. For example in Australia some jurisdictions have decriminalized cannabis and psychotropic substances for so-called ‘personal use’, under the guise of taking an humanitarian stance on ‘small users’.
However, in reality, this leaves the door open for large drug traffickers (syndicates) to provide small quantities to individuals to then ‘on-sell’ to their ‘clients’. When and if, law enforcement intervenes they simply claim ‘personal use’ and are given a small fine. The large drug dealers pay their fines and keep them out on the streets.
