[{"command":"settings","settings":{"pluralDelimiter":"\u0003","suppressDeprecationErrors":true,"ajaxPageState":{"libraries":"views\/views.ajax,views\/views.module","theme":"hrw_design","theme_token":null},"ajaxTrustedUrl":[],"views":{"ajax_path":"\/views\/ajax","ajaxViews":{"views_dom_id:blog_live_feed__blog_body_block__287990__en":{"view_name":"blog_live_feed","view_display_id":"blog_body_block","view_args":"287990","view_path":"\/blog\/content\/287990","view_base_path":null,"view_dom_id":"blog_live_feed__blog_body_block__287990__en","pager_element":0}}},"user":{"uid":0,"permissionsHash":"0ae5601d8790ff50fca3cf23b9ac9170285f2f75823ebdc8d9cc054bc03a679b"}},"merge":true},{"command":"add_css","data":"\u003Clink rel=\u0022stylesheet\u0022 media=\u0022all\u0022 href=\u0022\/sites\/default\/files\/css\/css_rT06N1hzNwWZvlauEGw5ZNFVKBrR23ibx56HC8Lyx4M.css\u0022 \/\u003E\n"},{"command":"add_js","selector":"body","data":[{"src":"\/sites\/default\/files\/js\/js_svkrpusmrjSaaV8heRnsa8-TbrEsMLumxMQD8vstdR8.js"}]},{"command":"insert","method":"replaceWith","selector":".js-view-dom-id-blog_live_feed__blog_body_block__287990__en","data":"\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-view-dom-id-blog_live_feed__blog_body_block__287990__en\u0022\u003E\n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n\n \u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022blog-block__content__description rich-text pt-6 mb:pt-10 mx-auto\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EThe so-called War on Drugs has been lost. So what now?\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u0026#13;\n\tThat\u2019s the vexing question United Nations member states have been grappling with over the past 10 weeks, as they have engaged in intense negotiations over the future of the international response to drugs, in preparation for a UN General Assembly \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.unodc.org\/ungass2016\/\u0022\u003Especial session\u003C\/a\u003E in April.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u0026#13;\n\tConfronted with the fact that policies pursued over the last 50 years have failed to \u201celiminate or significantly reduce\u201d illicit drugs, countries are drawing wildly differing conclusions. For some, it is time to try something new; for others, it\u2019s to double down on the criminal law enforcement approach. On opposite sides of this debate are countries like Uruguay \u2013 open to legalization and regulation of marijuana \u2013 and Russia, which opposes even references to a previously agreed \u2013 and spectacularly missed \u2013 global \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.unaids.org\/sites\/default\/files\/sub_landing\/files\/20110610_UN_A-RES-65-277_en.pdf\u0022\u003Egoal\u003C\/a\u003E to reduce drug-related HIV transmission.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u0026#13;\n\tHealth and human rights are at the center of this polarized debate. The UN drug control \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.unodc.org\/unodc\/en\/treaties\/\u0022\u003Econventions\u003C\/a\u003E were established, along with the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.unodc.org\/\u0022\u003EUN Office on Drugs and Crime\u003C\/a\u003E and the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.incb.org\/\u0022\u003EInternational Narcotics Control Board\u003C\/a\u003E, out of concern for the harms drugs can do to the \u201chealth and welfare of mankind.\u201d But with a growing body of evidence highlighting the negative impacts on health and human rights of an over reliance on a criminal law enforcement-based response to drugs a critical question has arisen: What does more harm \u2013 drugs themselves or the response to them?\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u0026#13;\n\tIn the run-up to the April meeting, Human Rights Watch will publish a series of articles examining the range of serious human rights abuses \u2013 from torture and killings in the name of drug control to disproportionate and arbitrary imprisonment of drug users to denying cancer patients access to morphine for pain \u2013 the War on Drugs has caused. Ending these abuses need to be at the center of the deliberations at the UN General Assembly session on drugs.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u0026#13;\n\t\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\u0026#13;\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n\u003C\/div\u003E\n","settings":null}]