• 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

  • Marijuana rescheduling falls short of expectations on Biden
    08.09.2023
  • Christiania plan could push drug crime into other parts of Copenhagen: MP
    07.09.2023
  • Nitrous oxide: Laughing gas to be illegal by end of year
    06.09.2023
  • Christiania hash sellers could get prison as ‘permanent closure’ announced for Pusher Street market
    06.09.2023
  • No joke: laughing gas ban has created ‘deadly waste hazard’
    01.09.2023
  • German government anticipates huge windfall with legalization of cannabis
    01.09.2023
More news

Weblog

    Willful blindness: INCB can find nothing good to say on cannabis legalisationWillful blindness: INCB can find nothing good to say on cannabis legalisation
    14.03.2023
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  36 afghanistan  25 show all

Tags

10-year Review  20 1998 UNGASS  26 2005 CND debate  8 2016 UNGASS  126 2019 HLM  5 activism  36 afghanistan  25 hide
africa  13 albania  14 alternative development  120 alternatives to policing  2 amnesty  88 amsterdam  29 appellation of origin  3 argentina  32 asean  9 ATS  15 australia  107 austria  5 ayahuasca  6 bahamas  4 ballot 2012  155 banking  50 barbados  11 belgium  44 belize  10 bermuda  15 bhang  14 bolivia  118 brazil  95 brownfield doctrine  24 burma  45 california  215 cambodia  12 canada  536 cannabinoids  106 cannabis  3212 cannabis clubs  225 cannabis industry  412 caribbean  148 caricom  33 cbd oil  1 central america  5 chile  21 china  46 civil society  37 CND  130 coca  220 cocaine  91 coffee shop  227 cognitive decline  30 colombia  160 colorado  163 compulsary detention  19 conflict  4 conventions  276 corporate capture  57 corruption  4 costa rica  10 crack  54 craft cannabis  31 crime  88 czech republic  51 dark net  4 death penalty  3 decertification  1 decriminalization  926 deforestation  11 denmark  130 drug checking  41 drug consumption rooms  193 drug courts  22 drug markets  145 drug policy index  2 drug testing  7 drug trade  60 e-cigarettes  1 e-joint  2 ecstasy  68 ecuador  22 egypt  16 el salvador  2 environment  38 eradication  129 essential medicines  25 estonia  2 eswatini  7 ethiopia  3 european drug policy  115 expert advisory group  9 extrajudicial killings  95 fair trade  16 fentanyl  80 france  118 fumigation  27 gateway theory  29 georgia  3 germany  211 ghana  18 global commission  46 greece  19 guatemala  32 guatemala initiative  47 harm reduction  342 hemp  43 heroin  139 heroin assisted treatment  80 HIV/AIDS  61 home cultivation  121 honduras  4 human rights  258 ICC  1 illinois  10 incarceration  53 INCB  142 india  97 indigenous rights  1 indonesia  35 informal drug policy dialogues  22 inter se modification  17 iran  14 ireland  15 israel  63 italy  42 jamaica  174 japan  3 kava  4 kazakhstan  5 kenya  11 ketamine  27 khat  37 kratom  33 kyrgyzstan  1 laos  2 latin american debate  115 law enforcement  422 lebanon  43 legal highs  64 legalization  1683 lesotho  10 local customization  11 luxembourg  57 malawi  4 malaysia  7 malta  54 medical cannabis  659 mental health  44 methamphetamine  48 mexico  211 Mid-Term Review  1 mild stimulants  46 money laundering  54 morocco  128 naloxone  16 nepal  7 netherlands  334 new york  33 new zealand  67 NIDA  5 nitrous oxide  9 norway  18 NPS  10 opinion polls  132 opioids  150 opium  94 oregon  29 overdose kits  4 pakistan  9 panama  5 paraguay  4 pardon  2 patents  18 peace  24 peru  45 peyote  3 philippines  89 pilot project  130 pleasure  5 poland  2 police pacification  18 portugal  68 potency  2 precursors  7 prevention  3 prison situation  101 prohibition  154 proportionality  110 psychedelics  13 psychosis  55 puerto rico  3 racism  29 reclassification  119 recriminalisation  37 regulation  1426 russia  36 sacramental use  11 safe supply  32 safer crack  29 scheduling  28 scientific research  144 sdg  2 security  14 senegal  1 sentencing  67 singapore  7 social justice  81 somalia  7 south africa  83 spain  79 st lucia  9 st vincent and grenadines  31 substance-use disorder  20 substitution treatment  31 sweden  30 switzerland  155 synthetic cannabinoids  31 taxation  56 teen use  43 thailand  74 thresholds  61 tobacco industry  17 traditional growers  159 tramadol  17 treatment  29 trinidad & tobago  15 tunisia  14 UK  281 UN Common Position  1 UN drug control  444 UNGASS  58 UNODC  111 uruguay  146 US drug policy  1187 vaping  2 venezuela  5 vietnam  5 violence  134 WHO  66 world drug report  11 yemen  6

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