The UNODC has been under pressure for some time to make a clear statement with regard to decriminalisation of drug possession and use. Other UN agencies including the World Health Organisation and UNAIDS have been explicit in their opposition to drug users facing criminal sanctions on health and human rights grounds.
Campaigners have long believed that the UNODC is key to changing government drug policies ahead of a meeting on 'The World Drug problem' at the UN General Assembly next April. The lobby group Transform said today that the unpublished briefing paper was "a devastating critique of the harms caused by criminalisation".
"The UN agency in charge of the global drug war says criminalising drug use is unnecessary, disproportionate, causes ill health, violence and death, and breaks international obligations towards health and human rights as a result," Transform's Danny Kushlick said today.