U.S. states' pot legalization not in line with international law: U.N. agency

[Nuclear Unicorn]

U.S. states' pot legalization not in line with international law: U.N. agency


(Reuters) - Moves by some U.S. states to legalize marijuana are not in line with international drugs conventions, the U.N. anti-narcotics chief said on Wednesday, adding he would discuss the issue in Washington next week.

Residents of Oregon, Alaska, and the U.S. capital voted this month to allow the use of marijuana, boosting the legalization movement as cannabis usage is increasingly recognized by the American mainstream.

"I don't see how (the new laws) can be compatible with existing conventions," Yury Fedotov, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), told reporters.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/12/us-usa-drugs-un-idUSKCN0IW1GV20141112

Are we obligated to conform? If not, how does that impact other UN accords? If so, is Obama obligated to crack down?

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. The global anti-drug treaties have no effective enforcement mechanism.

Especially not when the country mainly responsible for them is now the one breaking them.

Hey, hey, ho, ho, the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs has got to go!

[pscot]

4. That's catchy

[LonePirate]

2. Disapproval from the UN is an interesting method to gain RW support for the laws.

[hobbit709]

3. Yury is worried that he might be out of his cushy job.

[Bluenorthwest]

5. And yet the UN is happy to have members who execute gay people and that does not break

their precious international law. Yury Fedotov represents a country that is violently repressing LGBT people and others. Yury should get his priorities in order.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

7. Excellent point. Very excellent point. nt

[Bluenorthwest]

11. The UN is like July in Florida, it's not the heat, it's the hypocrisy that gets to you....

nt

[mmonk]

6. Great. Republicans will be onboard now

as well as me too Democrats.

[LondonReign2]

8. The Netherlands is trembling in fear

Well, they would be, but this isn't going to harsh their buzz

[B Calm]

9. Since when does the UN write our laws?

[question everything]

10. I don't think that we are

and, it will not be the first time that we disagree with the "international community."

Just recently there have been new findings how pot interferes with brain structure and function.

I really like what California's Jerry Brown said some months ago: do we really need a nation of stoned people? (something like that).

There is a reason why people use pot. I think. They want to take leave from reality. Often from pain and suffering. So fine. But I don't think we should tolerate a continuous state of mind. I'd hate to drive next to someone stoned.

[B Calm]

12. A nation of stoned people sounds good to me.

[jwirr]

20. Make that a stoned world. Peace in our time.

[Bluenorthwest]

13. And yet Jerry is the Governor of Wine Country, where they have driving maps for tasting tours....

Jerry lives in a nation of drunks and presides over a State that makes a huge amount of money selling intoxicating and frequently abused substances.

[Comrade Grumpy]

16. One can disapprove of marijuana use, but that doesn't mean it should be a crime.

[Jesus Malverde]

18. lulz...nt

[Nuclear Unicorn]

21. "They want to take leave from reality."

Have you been to Reality lately? The place is a dump.

I don't smoke (anymore) but I'm all for a little harmless escapism.

[Alittleliberal]

23. You drive next to stoned people all the time

Just recently there have been new findings how pot interferes with brain structure and function.

see my OP

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11702575

[JEB]

14. And Irael has nukes. Priorities, priorities.

[AgingAmerican]

15. Then change the existing conventions

nt

[Comrade Grumpy]

19. That happens at a glacial pace. But it will be under discussion in 2016.

At the UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs.

http://idpc.net/policy-advocacy/the-un-general-assembly-special-session-on-drugs-ungass-2016

The UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs (UNGASS) 2016

Background

The ‘General Assembly’ is the principle policy-making organ of the United Nations (UN), and the only one in which all 193 UN member states have equal representation. At the request of member states, it convenes UN General Assembly Special Sessions (UNGASS) on specific issues. There was an UNGASS on drugs in 1998 at which member states agreed on a Political Declaration on Global Drug Control. Ten years later, member states met in Vienna to discuss progress made and to agree on a new Political Declaration and Plan of Action on International Cooperation towards an Integrated and Balanced Strategy to Counter the World Drug Problem.


The next UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs (UNGASS) was due to be held in 2019 – the target date set out in the 2009 Political Declaration and Action Plan for the achievement of a significant reduction in or the elimination of the demand and supply of drugs. However in September 2012, the presidents of Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico called on the UN to host an international conference on drug policy reform. Subsequently, a provision was included in an annual omnibus resolution on drug policy – sponsored by Mexico, and co-sponsored by 95 other countries – to bring forward this global drug policy summit meeting to 2016.

The preparations are already in progress starting with a mid-term review of the implementation of the 2009 Political Declaration which was held in March 2014, resulting in the adoption of a Joint Ministerial Statement by member states. During the 57th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs held the following week, the Commission adopted an UNGASS resolution, which sets the stage for how UNGASS preparations will be conducted over the next two years.

The UNGASS on drugs comes at a time when there have been growing calls for drug policy reform across Latin America. For the first time, sitting presidents – such as Colombia’s Juan Manuel Santos and Guatemala’s Otto Pérez Molina – are questioning the underlining premises of the international drug control paradigm and calling for debate on alternative approaches. One concrete result of such efforts was the May 2013 release of an innovative report on drug policy by the Organisation of American States (OAS), as a tool (or catalyst) for promoting regional and international debate. At this year’s UN General Assembly meeting, Santos and Pérez Molina were joined by President Enrique Pena Nieto of Mexico and President Laura Chinchilla of Costa Rica, who called for developing more effective responses to drug trafficking based on public health, respect for human rights and harm reduction. All four presidents united in calling for an open and wide-ranging debate leading up to the 2016 UNGASS.

A Hemispheric Review of the Organisation of American States, was held on 19th September 2014, which resulted in a resolution that was presented to the United Nations.
There are several ways in which NGOs can engage in the preparations for UNGASS:

Support and join international reform organisations to strengthen their influence in the international community and at the UN and to stay informed about the process.
Join the New York NGO Committee on Drugs (NYNGOC) and/or the Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs (VNGOC) as it is likely that these committees will be the formal civil society mechanisms for engaging in the UNGASS.
Educate public opinion on the structure of international drug policy politics and decision-making, options for reform.
Lobby your government to promote more progressive drug policies during international debates.
Send out a civil society submission to UNODC, which it will post on the civil society page of its official UNGASS website.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

22. "UNGASS" lol. All bureaucrats do is gas. nt

[jwirr]

17. Narcitics. That is the problem. MJ is mislabeled both in our listing of harmful drugs and in this

listing. The president or whoever can change this should and end the war on mj once and for all.

[Travelman]

24. And this is yet another reason why the UN has less than zero credibility

They're worried that some guy on a snowmobile in The Middle Of Damn Nowhere, Alaska toking up is going to harm their precious, utterly un-enforceable "law," and then they put friggin Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Iran, and whoever else they can find with an absolutely abysmal track record on human rights on the Human Rights Council. It seems that they have an especially particular penchant for putting countries that like to kill or imprison people for the "crime" of being gay into things like the Human Rights Council.

I'm sorry, but piss on the UN. They are a worthless bunch of plutocrats who have no authority, no power, and less common sense than God gave an earthworm. The only things that they're really effective at is racking up amazing amounts of unpaid parking tickets, uselessly whining a lot, possibly the most spectacular hypocrisy on the entire planet, and occasionally having their soldiers rape women in places where they are supposed to be protecting them.



Like the League of Nations, it was a nice idea, but what it's turned into is just a big, stupid, bloated, do-nothing bureaucracy that literally only exists to perpetuate their own bureaucracy. AFAIC, spin off the few actual worthwhile parts like UNICEF, and just close down the rest. Turn the big building on the East Side into low-income housing or something actually useful like that.