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Reforming the global drug-control system: The stakes for Washington
Washington's new narrative defends the integrity of the UN drug control conventions, while allowing more flexible interpretations
Martin JelsmaFriday, June 27, 2014
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The extent to which the ongoing drug-control reforms across the Americas are pushing the boundaries of the global legal framework laid down in three UN drug-control conventions has become a delicate issue. The decriminalization of possession for personal use in several Latin American countries and the establishment of a supervised injection room in Vancouver, Canada have already triggered protracted legal disputes with the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), the quasi-judicial organ for the conventions’ implementation. -
Prisoners sentenced with unconstitutional norms have the right to be resentenced
Italian NGOs advocate for law by decree that would immediatly reduce illegitimate penalties
Grazia ZuffaThursday, June 5, 2014
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In February, the Italian Constitutional Court ruled that most of the 2006 drug law norms were unconstitutional. Following this pronouncement, at the end of May, the Court of Cassation decided that people sentenced and incarcerated under the illegitimate norms have the right to be resentenced. The decision may affect about 10.000 prisoners detained for cannabis crimes. -
"Just say no" is not an "alternative approach" to the drug problem
It's been tried – and it doesn't work
George Murkin (Transform Blog)Friday, May 30, 2014
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Dr Hans-Christian Raabe, who was removed from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs after one month, this week wrote two rather provocative articles on the Conservative Woman website. Raabe’s main argument is that a better, “alternative approach to the drug problem” would be to create a “drug-free society”. Punitive, zero-tolerance, abstinence-based approaches have been the dominant drug policy model in most parts of the world for over half a century now – and they haven’t worked. They've caused a great deal of harm and haven’t really stopped people taking drugs. -
Internationaal recht en cannabis
Rondetafelgesprek coffeeshopbeleid Commissie Veiligheid en Justitie
Martin Jelsma Tom BlickmanDonderdag, 15 mei 2014
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Voor het rondetafelgesprek over het rapport: ‘Internationaal recht en cannabis’ op 15 mei 2014 voor de Vaste Commissie voor Veiligheid en Justitie in de Tweede Kamer is het Transnational Institute gevraagd voor een reactie op het rapport Internationaal recht en cannabis van de Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen. Hieronder is de schriftelijke inbreng van TNI te lezen aangevuld met enkele opmerkingen die tijdens het debat werden gemaakt. -
The Transnational Institute interviewed by The Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum
TNI recently released The Rise and Decline of Cannabis Prohibition
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The Transnational Institute (TNI) released a new report this month called The Rise and Decline of Cannabis Prohibition’. This report will be presented during the 57th UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in Vienna. In this article Tom Blickman and Martin Jelsma, who both work for TNI, answer some questions about this report, which is co-financed by the Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum Amsterdam/Barcelona, one of the sister companies of Sensi Seeds. -
Europe, it’s time to regulate cannabis!
A couple of young people have launched “Weed like to talk”, a grassroots campaign calling on the European Union to make cannabis legal
Peter Sarosi (HCLU)
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The European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) is a great innovation of the Treaty of Lisbon, enabling EU citizens to call directly on the European Commission to propose a legal act, if they can obtain the support of one million of their fellow citizens. The "Weed like to talk” campaign, launched by three French university students this year, aims to collect one million signatures from at least seven EU countries to call for a common cannabis policy based on a legally regulated market. -
INCB speaks out against death penalty
The Board does not decide whether cannabis should be downgraded in the schedules
Martin JelsmaWednesday, March 5, 2014
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UN’s International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) unprecedented condemnation of the use of death penalty for drug-related offences is welcome if long overdue. The bigger question is whether INCB’s consideration of human rights can be extended into a proper human rights and evidence-based examination of UN’s entire drug control regime. -
Minister Opstelten en de burgemeesterlijke ongehoorzaamheid
Commentaar op de brief van de minister aan de Tweede Kamer over ‘toezeggingen coffeeshopbeleid’
Martin JelsmaWoensdag, 29 januari 2014
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Alle 25 Nederlandse burgemeesters die verzoeken hadden ingediend om te experimenteren met gereguleerde of gedoogde aanvoer van cannabis naar de coffeeshops, kregen als Kerst cadeau van minister Opstelten van Veiligheid en Justitie (VenJ) te horen: “nee, nee en nog eens nee”. En in zijn brief aan de Tweede Kamer klinkt tussen de regels door “en hou nou toch eens op met zeuren want dat gaat echt niet gebeuren”. -
Are the three drug conventions still the cornerstone of the world drug control system?
Reflections from the CND inter-sessional meeting on January 14, 2014
Katherine Irene PettusIDPC blog
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
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UN member states are currently in the process of hammering out a ‘Joint Ministerial Statement’ for the upcoming High Level Review of the world drug response – at the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in March. At the most recent ‘inter-sessional meeting’, exasperated delegates of all ideological persuasions repeated variations of the refrain “we’ve already done this…this language is in the Political Declaration…we debated this last year…this paragraph was already settled by consensus.” -
UNODC Executive Director releases "contributions" ahead of CND High-Level Segment on drugs
IDPC blog
Monday, January 20, 2014
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Ahead of the High-Level Segment on the world drug problem to take place on 13th and 14th January 2014, the UNODC Executive Director, Yuri Fedotov, has released his "contributions" to the debate. This 19-page document is, in parts, refreshingly honest about the “unequal” progress that has been made since 2009 (with reductions in supply or demand for some drugs in some places being offset by increases elsewhere), the setbacks and new challenges, and the fact that “the overall magnitude of drug demand has not substantially changed at the global level”.
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