• Español
  • English
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • rss
  • Español
  • English
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • rss
TNI D&D
  • Home
  • About us
    • About us
    • People
    • Partners
    • Researchers
    • Contact us
    • In the media
    • Newsletter
  • Newsroom
    • Press contacts
    • Press releases
    • Resources
    • Drugs in the news
  • Issues
    • Drug policy debate in the Americas
    • Decriminalization
    • Proportionality of sentences
    • Harm reduction
    • Reclassification of substances
    • Safer crack use
    • Human rights
    • Regulation
    • Unscheduling the coca leaf
    • Ending the war on drugs
    • Alternative development
    • Cannabis
    • Producers of Crops
    • Law enforcement
    • ATS, Mild stimulants & NPS
    • European Drug Policy
    • Money Laundering
  • UN Drug
    Control
    • Conventions
    • UNODC
    • CND
    • INCB
    • UNGASS
  • Country
    information
    • Drug Law Reform on the Map
    • Central America
      • El Salvador
      • Guatemala
      • Honduras
      • Costa Rica
    • Latin America
      • Argentina
      • Bolivia
      • Paraguay
      • Brazil
      • Chile
      • Colombia
      • Ecuador
      • Peru
      • Uruguay
      • Venezuela
    • Mexico
    • Caribbean
      • Jamaica
      • Belize
    • Afghanistan
  • Events
    • Expert Seminars
    • Informal Policy Dialogues
    • Public Events
    • Judges for Law Reform
  • Publications
    • Drug Policy Briefings
    • Drug Law Reform
    • Legislative Reform Series
    • The Human Face
    • Drugs & conflict
    • Drugs and the Law (CEDD)
      • Systems overload
    • Drug Markets and Violence
  • Weblog

 

Call to Action: Support Global Drug Policy Reform

Call to Action
World Drug Day, 26 June 2009

As the United Nations launches the 2009 World Drug Report this week, more than 40 international groups and experts worldwide today issued a call to action that presses governments to adopt a humane approach to drug policy.

The call to action, signed by the Transnational Institute (TNI), the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, former president of Brazil Fernando Cardoso, and others, urges governments to enact policies that are based on scientific and medical research rather than politics.

Download the Press release
Download the Call to Action: Support Global Drug Policy Reform

For Immediate Release

Groups Put Pressure on Governments to Reform Harmful Drug Policies

Contact: Martin Jelsma, +31 20 662 6608 or +31 65 5715893, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amsterdam, 25 June — As the United Nations launches the 2009 World Drug Report this week, more than 40 international groups and experts worldwide today issue a call to action that presses governments to adopt a humane approach to drug policy.

The call to action, signed by the Transnational Institute (TNI), the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, former president of Brazil Fernando Cardoso, and others, urges governments to enact policies that are based on scientific and medical research rather than politics.

“A world without drugs will never exist,” said Martin Jelsma, coordinator of TNIs drugs programme. “The principle of harm reduction should replace the ideology of ‘zero tolerance’. It offers a more pragmatic approach that favours policies capable of reducing drug-associated harm as far as possible, for the consumer and for society in general.”

Rather than receiving treatment, millions of non-violent drug users are languishing in prisons as a result of current drug policies. As the HIV and AIDS crisis spreads, policies that drive away drug users are creating public health disasters. The drug trade continues to grow while families are torn apart by the global war on drugs.

“Sanctions should be in proportion to the crime,” said Jelsma. “Many countries could learn from the positive example given by Ecuador, which issued a ‘pardon for mules’ in 2008. Those who had been arrested with a maximum quantity of two kilograms of any drug, who had no prior conviction, and who had completed ten percent of their sentence or a minimum of one year, were released from prison.”

It is time for governments to support needle exchange, substitution therapy, and decriminalization of possession for personal use. Drug control measures must respect human rights with penalties that are proportional and humane, and recognize that drug cultivation is primarily a development issue—not simply a security threat.

The call to action, along with full list of signatories, is available online.



TNI Drugs & Democracy programme is one of the leading international drug policy research institutes and as a serious critical watchdog on UN drug control institutions. Website: www.tni.org/drugs
  • Labels
    civil society | HIV/AIDS | world drug report | conventions | UNODC | human rights | UN drug control | harm reduction

Drugs in the News

  • Are your illegal drugs pure? New Zealand will check them for you
    09.04.2021
  • Big tobacco is coming for legal marijuana
    08.04.2021
  • Mayor of London to examine benefits of cannabis legalisation
    05.04.2021
  • Schumer: Senate will act on marijuana legalization with or without Biden
    03.04.2021
  • New chairman of CLA wants ganja industry to earn maximum benefits globally
    02.04.2021
  • Pilot trials with cannabis
    01.04.2021
More news

Weblog

    A new EU Drug Strategy is being repared by the German presidencyA new EU Drug Strategy is being repared by the German presidency
    08.10.2020
More weblog

Hilites

Balancing Treaty Stability and Change

balancing hilite

Inter se modification of the UN drug control conventions to facilitate cannabis regulation


Connecting the dots...

connecting dots hilite

Human rights, illicit cultivation and alternative development


Morocco and Cannabis

morocco cannabis hilite

Reduction, containment or acceptance


The Rise and Decline of Cannabis Prohibition

rise decline hilite

The History of Cannabis in the UN Drug Control System and Options For Reform


Tags

10-year Review  20 1998 UNGASS  26 2005 CND debate  8 2016 UNGASS  126 2019 HLM  5 activism  22 afghanistan  24 show all

Tags

10-year Review  20 1998 UNGASS  26 2005 CND debate  8 2016 UNGASS  126 2019 HLM  5 activism  22 afghanistan  24 hide
africa  7 albania  11 alternative development  115 alternatives to policing  2 amnesty  69 appellation of origin  3 argentina  32 asean  9 ATS  15 australia  94 ayahuasca  6 bahamas  4 ballot 2012  155 banking  44 barbados  11 belgium  32 belize  10 bermuda  9 bolivia  115 brazil  93 brownfield doctrine  24 burma  42 california  202 cambodia  12 canada  498 cannabinoids  89 cannabis  2837 cannabis clubs  189 cannabis industry  370 caribbean  145 caricom  33 cbd oil  1 central america  5 chile  21 china  46 civil society  37 CND  126 coca  212 cocaine  61 coffee shop  211 cognitive decline  30 colombia  147 colorado  160 compulsary detention  19 conflict  3 conventions  250 corporate capture  37 corruption  3 costa rica  10 crack  51 craft cannabis  27 crime  68 czech republic  31 dark net  4 death penalty  2 decertification  1 decriminalization  837 deforestation  8 denmark  120 drug checking  36 drug consumption rooms  182 drug courts  22 drug markets  135 drug testing  7 drug trade  48 e-cigarettes  1 e-joint  2 ecstasy  59 ecuador  22 egypt  16 el salvador  2 environment  15 eradication  126 essential medicines  25 estonia  1 eswatini  4 european drug policy  67 expert advisory group  9 extrajudicial killings  92 fair trade  13 fentanyl  75 france  103 fumigation  25 gateway theory  29 georgia  2 germany  151 ghana  16 global commission  46 greece  18 guatemala  31 guatemala initiative  47 harm reduction  330 hemp  39 heroin  128 heroin assisted treatment  77 HIV/AIDS  61 home cultivation  84 honduras  3 human rights  247 illinois  10 incarceration  51 INCB  135 india  88 indonesia  34 informal drug policy dialogues  22 inter se modification  13 iran  14 ireland  15 israel  56 italy  34 jamaica  165 japan  3 kava  3 kazakhstan  5 ketamine  27 khat  36 kratom  27 kyrgyzstan  1 laos  2 latin american debate  115 law enforcement  385 lebanon  41 legal highs  63 legalization  1398 lesotho  6 luxembourg  33 malaysia  7 malta  18 medical cannabis  605 mental health  44 methamphetamine  41 mexico  204 Mid-Term Review  1 mild stimulants  37 money laundering  53 morocco  99 naloxone  13 nepal  6 netherlands  286 new york  25 new zealand  65 NIDA  5 nitrous oxide  6 norway  16 NPS  10 opinion polls  121 opioids  134 opium  90 oregon  29 overdose kits  4 pakistan  9 panama  5 paraguay  4 pardon  2 patents  18 peace  22 peru  42 peyote  3 philippines  86 pleasure  5 police pacification  18 portugal  66 potency  2 precursors  6 prevention  3 prison situation  96 producers  122 prohibition  141 proportionality  110 psychedelics  11 psychosis  53 puerto rico  3 racism  24 reclassification  116 recriminalisation  36 regulation  1204 russia  36 sacramental use  11 safe supply  21 safer crack  28 scheduling  24 scientific research  135 sdg  2 security  14 senegal  1 sentencing  66 singapore  6 social justice  60 south africa  64 spain  76 st lucia  9 st vincent and grenadines  29 substance-use disorder  18 substitution treatment  30 sweden  26 switzerland  134 synthetic cannabinoids  30 taxation  40 teen use  43 thailand  54 thresholds  40 tobacco industry  15 tramadol  17 treatment  22 trinidad & tobago  15 tunisia  13 UK  254 UN drug control  422 UNGASS  58 UNODC  107 uruguay  143 US drug policy  1128 vaping  2 venezuela  5 vietnam  5 violence  131 WHO  60 world drug report  11

This website

UN Drug Control

In 2011 the 1961 UN Single Convention on drugs will be in place for 50 years. In 2012 the international drug control system will exist 100 years since the International Opium Convention was signed in 1912 in The Hague. Does it still serve its purpose or is a reform of the UN Drug Conventions needed? This site provides critical background.

Drug Law Reform on the map

dlronthemap_und

Copyright © 2016 Drug Law Reform in Latin America

Website by WebWolf