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UNGASS 2016: A Broken or B-r-o-a-d Consensus?

UN summit cannot hide a growing divergence in the global drug policy landscape

Dave Bewley-Taylor Martin Jelsma

Drug Policy Briefing Nr 45
July 2016

A special session of the General Assembly took place in April revealing a growing divergence in the global drug policy landscape. Difficult negotiations resulted in a disappointing outcome document, perpetuating a siloed approach to drugs at the UN level. There is a clear need to realign international drug policies with the overarching 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, embedding the drugs issue comprehensively within the UN’s three pillars: development, human rights, and peace and security. The UNGASS process has helped to set the stage for more substantial changes in the near future, towards the next UN review in 2019.

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Cannabis in Indonesia

Patterns in consumption, production, and policies

Dania Putri & Tom Blickman

Drug Policy Briefing Nr. 44
January 2016

Cannabis use has never posed major problems in Indonesia, yet prohibitionist policies prevail. Despite the high prevalence of cannabis use, local or national discussions on cannabis policies are nearly non-existent, exacerbated by strong anti-drug views and public institutions' failure to design and implement comprehensive policies based on evidence. Because of the current anti-narcotics law – discussed in detail in this briefing – there have been many obstacles to research on cannabis, both in terms of medical and anthropological research.

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Cannabis Regulation and the UN Drug Treaties

Strategies for Reform

WOLA, GDPO, TDPF, TNI, ICHRDP & CDPC
June 2016

As jurisdictions enact reforms creating legal access to cannabis for purposes other than exclusively “medical and scientific,” tensions surrounding the existing UN drug treaties and evolving law and practice in Member States continue to grow. These treaty tensions have become the “elephant in the room” in key high-level forums, including the 2016 United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on drugs — obviously present, but studiously ignored.

Download the briefing (PDF) | Press release | Version française (PDF)

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The history of cannabis and international control

How cannabis was included in the UN drug control system and the defections that have brought the international treaties to breaking point

This timeline draws on The Rise and Decline of Cannabis Prohibition, a report that described the history of international control, how cannabis was included in the current UN drug control system and the subsequent defections by countries and states that have brought the international treaties to breaking point. TNI is calling for a revision of the treaties to be based on scientific evidence and embodying principles of harm reduction and human rights.
The UN Drug Control Conventions

A primer

For more than ten years, TNI’s Drugs & Democracy programme has been studying the UN drug control conventions and the institutional architecture of the UN drug control regime. As we approach the 2016 UNGASS, this primer is a tool to better understand the role of these conventions, the scope and limits of their flexibility, the mandates they established for the CND, the INCB and the WHO, and the various options for treaty reform. (PDF version: Primer: The UN Drug Control Conventions)

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The Rise and Decline of Cannabis Prohibition

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

Dave Bewley-Taylor Tom Blickman Martin Jelsma

Transnational Institute / Global Drug Policy Observatory
March 2014

The cannabis plant has been used for spiritual, medicinal and recreational purposes since the early days of civilization. In this report the Transnational Institute and the Global Drug Policy Observatory describe in detail the history of international control and how cannabis was included in the current UN drug control system. Cannabis was condemned by the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs as a psychoactive drug with “particularly dangerous properties” and hardly any therapeutic value.

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Résumé en français (PDF)
Download the press release (PDF)

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Human Rights and drug policy

Drug control should respect human rights

The Transnational Institute (TNI) has always believed in the need to find global answers to global problems, been a strong defender of multilateralism and an advocate of a well-functioning United Nations which stands as the guarantor of universal human rights. On the drugs question, our position is straightforward: drug control should respect human rights. An accessible but comprehensive primer on why TNI believes that human rights must be at the heart of any debate on drug control.

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