It has become almost accepted knowledge within international policy circles that efforts against drug trafficking and drug abuse violate human rights, and that the entire international drug control regime needs to be changed (or even discarded altogether) to adopt a more 'rights respecting' approach. Though this view has been promoted by many prominent figures and organisations, the author of this book uses his expertise in both human rights and drug control to show that the arguments advanced in this area do not stand close scrutiny. The arguments are in fact based on selective and questionable interpretations of international human rights standards, and on a general notion – more and more clearly stated – that there is a human right to take drugs, and that any effort to combat drug abuse by definition violates this right. There is no such right in international law, and the author objects to the misuse of human rights language as a marketing tool to bring about a 'back door' legalisation of drugs. Human rights issues must be addressed, but that in no way means that the international drug control regime must be discarded, or that efforts against drugs must be stopped.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
I. Some Terminology Issues-Legalisation, Decriminalisation, and Depenalisation
II. Use/Abuse/Consumption
2. Legal Standards and Regimes
I. The International Drug Control Regime
The 1988 Convention and Criminalisation
The Treaty Monitoring Regime of International Drug Control
The Enforcement Powers of INCB
INCB, UNODC, and Human Rights
II. Human Rights
The International Human Rights Regime
Human Rights Treaty Bodies and INCB
Charter-Based Bodies-The Human Rights Council
The Offi ce of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR)
III. Article 33 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
3. UNGASS and Developments in Latin America
I. UNGASS
II. Latin America: Regional Developments
III. Latin America: Developments at the National Level
Bolivia
Uruguay
4. Drug Control: Violating Human Rights?
I. At First, There Was 'Harm Reduction'
Substitution Treatment
Injection Rooms
Conclusion on Harm Reduction
II. Human Rights as a Tool
Death Penalty
Law Enforcement and the Excessive Use of Force
Arbitrary Detention, Ill-Treatment and Forced Labour
Arbitrary Detention and the International Drug Control Conventions
III. Persons who Abuse Drugs as a 'Vulnerable Group'
IV. Militarisation of Drug Law Enforcement
Organised Crime
Pain Relief and Legalisation of Opium Poppy Cultivation in Afghanistan
Pain Relief Globally
5. Mandated Treatment and Drug Courts
I. Portugal
6. The 'Right to Abuse Drugs'
Afterword: Views of the Author