Drug policy reform is the new human rights movement on the block

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Drug policy reform is the new human rights movement on the block

16 December 2015

By Suchitra Rajagopalan

Last month, more than 1,500 people from 71 countries gathered in the suburbs of Washington D.C. with one common goal: to end the War on Drugs. Attendees included diverse groups of people with strikingly different perspectives on drug policy; doctors, lawyers, Rastafarians, war veterans, and formerly incarcerated people amongst others. The diversity of this dynamic group reflects both the widespread impact of drug laws, and the urgent need for their reform.

There is growing consensus that the prohibitionist policies propagated by the U.S. have failed. Not only have they failed to decrease drug use and production, they have also led to a multitude of human rights violations worldwide.

The global drug regime has long been characterized by punishment and repression. The use, possession, cultivation, distribution, or trafficking of any narcotic drug invites criminal charges and lengthy prison sentences. After more than five decades of this approach, individuals and governments are beginning to acknowledge what those in the drug policy reform movement have been saying for years -- prohibition doesn't work. The goal of a 'drug free society' is unrealistic, as it fails to take into account human tendencies, cultural context, and the medical importance of the outlawed substances.

The focus on punishment has not decreased drug use or trade. Instead, the drug trade is more dangerous and profitable than ever and drug laws are used as tools of oppression against racial and ethnic minorities. Communities of color are consistently punished disproportionately for drug offences in the West. In the U.S., for example, though African-Americans constitute 13 percent of drug users in the country, they make up 37 percent of those arrested for drug use. Sentencing can also vary greatly based on which community is perceived to use a particular drug. As per the U.S "Fair Sentencing Act," 'crack' cocaine, a drug associated with the African-American/economically disadvantaged communities, is punished 18 times more severely than powder cocaine, a drug used by wealthy white folk. Higher arrests and incarceration rates for people of color have led to mass incarceration and a fractured criminal justice system. American politicians are finally making a pledge to decrease their prison population, beginning with the release of many non-violent drug offenders.

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Thumbnail: Flickr CC DrBurtoni