Nations Fail to Agree on Major Shift in Drug Policy at UN Conference

The United Nations’ three-day special session to address global drug policy ended last week without a major shift in approach, The Wall Street Journal reports. It was the first special session to address the topic in almost 20 years.

Countries continued to disagree on decriminalizing drug use, legalizing marijuana and capital punishment for drug traffickers.

An agreement called an “outcome document,” negotiated months before the conference, was adopted by member states at the beginning of the meeting. It upheld the policy of banning all recreational narcotics and criminalizing their use, the article notes. While the document did not refer to capital punishment, it did call for a more humanitarian approach and better cooperation between nations.

Hundreds of government officials, non-governmental organization representatives and individuals attended the session.

The nations’ different approaches to drug policy are stark. Jamaica has decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana, while Cuba opposes legalizing drugs or declaring them harmless. Iran seized 620 tons of drugs last year and said it is helping protect the world from “the evils of addiction.”

Canada’s Health Minister, Jane Philpott, announced her government’s plans to introduce a measure next spring to legalize marijuana. Indonesia’s Ambassador, Rachmat Budiman, called for a “zero-tolerance approach” to suppress and eliminate illegal drugs. Indonesia and Iran impose the death penalty on drug traffickers.

Michael Botticelli, Director of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, said “law enforcement efforts should focus on criminal organizations — not on people with substance use disorders who need treatment and recovery support services.” He said drug policies in all nations should address the needs of underserved groups.

The Global Commission on Drug Policy, which includes former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, as well as the former presidents of Mexico and Brazil, issued a statement in March that said discussions to draft the special session’s outcome document relied too much on an outdated law-and-order approach.