• US/New York: Few Arrested for Pot Become Violent Criminals
    Nov 23, 2012

    Few of those who enter New York City’s criminal justice system as a result of marijuana possession arrests become dangerous criminals

  • Iran: Donors Should Reassess Anti-Drug Funding
    Aug 21, 2012
    United Nations agencies and international donors should immediately freeze financial and other assistance to Iran’s drug control programs, Human Rights Watch and Harm Reduction International (HRI) said today. The funding contributes to abusive prosecutions of drug suspects, the groups said.
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Reports

  • A Red Herring
    Marijuana Arrestees Do Not Become Violent Felons
  • The Rehab Archipelago
    Forced Labor and Other Abuses in Drug Detention Centers in Southern Vietnam
  • Uniform Impunity
    Mexico's Misuse of Military Justice to Prosecute Abuses in Counternarcotics and Public Security Operations
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Drug Policy and Human Rights

  • Mexico: Letter to President Peña Nieto
    Dec 11, 2012

    On behalf of Human Rights Watch, I wish to congratulate you on your inauguration as president. You have assumed leadership of a country whose recent human rights record is appalling. Addressing the abuses committed during the tenure of your predecessor and preventing them in the future will require immediate attention at the highest levels of your administration. I write to urge you to rapidly set out a concrete, detailed plan to address these serious problems.

  • US/New York: Few Arrested for Pot Become Violent Criminals
    Nov 23, 2012

    Few of those who enter New York City’s criminal justice system as a result of marijuana possession arrests become dangerous criminals

  • UN Human Rights Council: Statement on International Funding, UN Assistance, and the Death Penalty for Drug Offences
    Sep 13, 2012
    Thirty-two states retain the death penalty for drug offences, but only a handful continue to execute people convicted of these crimes, showing that state practice has clearly moved away from this form of punishment. Nonetheless the numbers of people sentenced to death and executed each year are high.
  • A Discussion About Drug Policy Is Long Overdue
    Sep 4, 2012
    Of the many issues that national politicians routinely gloss over during campaign season is drug policy. Whether a different set of policies would better serve human rights and US interests is something that US policymakers may genuinely disagree about. But a rigorous debate within the United States about drug policy and its financial and human rights consequences is long overdue.
  • A Step Backward for AIDS Prevention
    Aug 28, 2012
    On World AIDS Day last year, President Obama recognized the progress against the HIV epidemic, saying there is "the real possibility of an AIDS-free generation." This possibility, however, was dealt a serious blow in January when Congress gutted a key component of HIV prevention by reinstating a ban on federal funding of syringe exchange programs.
  • Iran: Donors Should Reassess Anti-Drug Funding
    Aug 21, 2012
    United Nations agencies and international donors should immediately freeze financial and other assistance to Iran’s drug control programs, Human Rights Watch and Harm Reduction International (HRI) said today. The funding contributes to abusive prosecutions of drug suspects, the groups said.
  • Chinese Addiction Study and Human Rights
    Aug 2, 2012

    In the Report "A memory retrieval-extinction procedure to prevent drug craving and relapse" (13 April, p. 241), Y.-X. Xue et al. describe experiments conducted on rats and drug users in Beijing, China. Although the authors state that the study participants gave written informed consent and that the research was approved by the Human Investigation Committee of the Peking University Health Center, substantial questions about ethical protections remain.

  • Drug Detention Centers Offer Torture, Not Treatment
    Jul 23, 2012

    Hundreds of thousands of people identified as drug users in China and across Southeast Asia are held without due process in centers where they may be subjected to torture, and physical and sexual violence in the name of “treatment.” International donors and United Nations agencies have supported and funded drug detention centers that systematically deny people rights to effective HIV and drug dependency treatment, and have ignored forced labor and abuse.

  • Laos: Clinton Should Urge End to Abuses at Drug Center
    Jul 9, 2012

    United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should call for the immediate release of detainees at the Somsanga drug detention center in her meeting with Lao Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong. Clinton is scheduled to visit the Lao capital, Vientiane, on July 11, 2012. 

  • Donors Should Not be "Partners in Crime" with Rights Abusers
    Jun 24, 2012
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