Waltzing on the Vienna Consensus on Drug Control? Tensions in the International System for the Control of Drugs

Boister, Neil

doi:10.1017/s0922156516000078

Cited by 12 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Emerging analysis suggests that a range of alternatives merit careful consideration in Ottawa . Beyond simply withdrawing from the drug treaties, these options include the possibility of denouncing and then re‐acceding with reservations.…”

Section: Declaration Of Interestsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Canada, cannabis legalization and uncertainty around the United Nations drug control conventions

Bewley-Taylor

2018

Addiction

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Section: Declaration Of Interestsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Canada, cannabis legalization and uncertainty around the United Nations drug control conventions

Bewley-Taylor

2018

Addiction

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“…Emerging analysis suggests that a range of alternatives merit careful consideration in Ottawa [12,13]. Beyond simply withdrawing from the drug treaties, these options include the possibility of denouncing and then re-acceding with reservations.…”

Section: Canada Cannabis Legalization and Uncertainty Around The Unimentioning

confidence: 99%

UNGASS 2016: Prospects for Treaty Reform and UN System-Wide Coherence on Drug Policy

Jelsma¹

2016

Journal of Drug Policy Analysis

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This paper explores key lessons from the 1990 Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on Drug Abuse (UNGASS 1990) and the 1998 Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on the World Drug Problem (UNGASS 1998), and tracks subsequent policy events and trends. It discusses the wide array of increasing tensions and cracks in the “Vienna consensus,” as well as systemic challenges and recent treaty breaches. Various options for treaty reform are explored and the following questions are considered: Given policy developments around the world this past decade, what outcomes can the 2016 Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on the World Drug Problem (UNGASS 2016) have in terms of a new political compromise? How can UNGASS 2016 contribute to more system-wide coherence where previous attempts failed? Can UNGASS 2016 realistically initiate a process of modernizing the global drug control system and breathe oxygen into a system risking asphyxiation? Finally, is there a chance that treaty reform options will be discussed at all, or do today’s political realities still block possible future regime changes?

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“…Indeed, while in no way claiming a direct causal relationship between the international drug control regime based on three UN drug control conventions and a 'war on drugs' approach pursued by many nation states, it is not unreasonable to suggest that the predominantly supply focused prohibitive outlook privileged by the regime, and long bolstered by the US, has played a critical role in sustaining a punitive approach in many parts of the world (Andreas and Nadelmann, 2006, Boister, 2016and Babor et al, 2018. Representing a complex and varied interface between different levels of governance, it is fair to say that the influence of the overarching UN drug control framework comes into play in one way or another at some stage within processes of policy-making, implementation and review.…”

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confidence: 99%

Introduction: international drug policy in an era of growing complexity, challenge and tension

2020

Research Handbook on International Drug Policy

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Varying patterns of stability and dynamism tend to characterize public policy across a range of domains. Drug policy, as an exemplar of a cross-cutting issue, is no exception. In many parts of the world, the last ten years or so have witnessed unprecedented-in some cases rapid in others more incremental-shifts away from the traditional law enforcement dominated approach to dealing with multiple facets of illegal drug markets. Elsewhere stasis, or even retrenchment, better characterizes the policy landscape. While impossible to neatly categorize such differences in approach, with many nations falling somewhere in-between, the growing mosaic of policy responses have to a greater or lesser extent been influenced by the increasingly complex and expanding nature of what has become known simply as the 'world drug problem'. Reflecting a growing understanding of what by its very nature is a difficult market to quantify, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC or Office) noted in the Preface to the 2019 World Drug Report, 'The findings of this year's' flagship publication, 'fill in and further complicate the global picture of drug challenges' (UNODC, 2019, p. 1). The Report goes on to stress that in 2017 an estimated 271 million people, or 5.5 per cent of the global population aged 15-64, had used drugs in the previous year; a figure 30 per cent higher than in 2009 (UNODC, 2019, p. 7). Moving beyond simple prevalence figures, an issue discussed in detail at various points within this Research Handbook, UNODC also notes how an estimated 35 million people suffer from what it refers to as 'drug use disorders', with an estimated 585,000 people dying 'as a result of drug use in 2017' (UNODC, 2019, pp. 1 & 19). Within the context of these figures, as well, as among other things, fluctuations in drug crop cultivation, shifting and increasingly complex trafficking patterns (including in relation to illegal cryptomarkets), the continued emergence of new psychoactive substances (NPS), a growing trend in the manufacture, trafficking and use of Amphetamine Type Stimulants in some parts of the world, an ongoing boom, particularly in North America, in the synthetic opioid market, under resourcing of appropriate public health responses and minimal access to controlled essential medicines for the management of pain and other conditions in some parts of the world, the Office noted on the Report's launch, that the 'Severity and complexity of the World Drug Situation [is] increasing' (IDPC-GDPO, 2019, p. 2). Faced with this picture, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) noted in the Foreword to the Board's Report for 2019 that 'We stand at a challenging point in drug control' (INCB, 2020, p. iv). It is difficult to disagree with this perspective. Moreover, the dynamic state of drug markets and policy interventions designed to address them are certainly fascinating areas of study for those working in and across a range of academic disciplines. Yet, beyond academia, these conjoined issues arguably stand out among an arr...

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Waltzing on the Vienna Consensus on Drug Control? Tensions in the International System for the Control of Drugs

Abstract: Abstract

Cited by 12 publications

References 8 publications

Canada, cannabis legalization and uncertainty around the United Nations drug control conventions

Canada, cannabis legalization and uncertainty around the United Nations drug control conventions

UNGASS 2016: Prospects for Treaty Reform and UN System-Wide Coherence on Drug Policy

Introduction: international drug policy in an era of growing complexity, challenge and tension

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