U.N. Says U.S. Marijuana Legalization Violates International Law

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: 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.

Asked whether there was anything the UNODC could do about it, Fedotov said he would raise the problem next week with the U.S. State Department and other U.N. agencies.

Read more: http://www.newsweek.com/un-says-us-marijuana-legalization-violates-international-law-283912

[upaloopa]

1. If you don't like that you sure as hell won't like TPP

Sorry folks, people in other countries don't like you getting high so put out that joint.

[Freddie Stubbs]

2. Does the TPP prohibit states from legalizing marijuana?

[Comrade Grumpy]

7. The US is largely responsible for the global anti-drug treaties.

So there is that.

[TeamPooka]

16. That we made them implement. nt

[billhicks76]

18. Where Are The Republican A-Holes?

I thought they didn't like other countries telling us what to do.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

3. Fuck the UN !

[leftynyc]

4. And the UN

will fall further into irrelevance. Isn't it also legal in the Netherlands?

[Comrade Grumpy]

6. Technically, it is NOT legal in the Netherlands.

Precisely because the Dutch did not want to contravene the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs--the UN treaty to which Fedotov refers.

The law against marijuana possession remains on the books in the Netherlands, but they choose not to enforce it through a policy that translates as "pragmatic tolerance."

Uruguay, however, has directly challenged the Single Convention with its marijuana law.

And Bolivia has rejected the convention's language that coca is a drug.

Support for global drug prohibition is eroding. They'll be working on that at the UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs in 2016. There is a big global reformist push going on.

[riversedge]

10. Thanks for your very informative post.

[Ash_F]

19. The United States was primarily responsible for the convention

So you could say the US is falling further into irrelevance. Well, at least the older generation.

I am always happy to help educate you on your nation's history.

[Comrade Grumpy]

5. Americans seem hopelessly uninformed about the UN.

It's not a single entity.

Fedotov, the guy who is mouthing off, heads the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. It's one of a number of UN agencies. It's charged with enforcing the global drug laws for which the US is largely responsible. Fortunately, it doesn't have any teeth; just the power of the bully pulpit.

This is not the UN Security Council, nor is it the UN General Assembly.

[Feral Child]

9. Exactly, Grump.

He's their "Drug Czar", and just like ours he'll lie and distort the truth to justify his paycheck, and, of course his Budget.

[Throd]

14. Yeah, well fuck him anyway. n/t

[jtuck004]

12. Kinda like their own little John McCain, onions in the belt and all that? n/t

[Xipe Totec]

8. Tell the repugs that the trilateral commission is telling us what to do

That will legalize marijuana in all 50 states in a jiffy.

[Hestia]

11. ^ This ^

[SunSeeker]

13. Fuck you, Yury. How about the violations of international law in your homeland?

So LGBT folks in Russia are being persecuted and murdered, but this douchebag is worried about people smoking pot? The world would be a better place if Putin smoked pot.

[rollin74]

15. why should we give a shit about what Yury or the UN thinks?

[Strelnikov_]

17. Don't step on the grass, Yuri?

Starin' at the boob tube, turnin' on the big knob
Tryin' to find some life in the waste land
Fin'ly found a program, gonna deal with Mary Jane
Ready for a trip into hate land

Obnoxious Joe comes on the screen
Along with his guest self-righteous Sam
And one more guy who doesn't count
His hair and clothes are too far out

While pushin' back his glasses Sam is sayin' casually
'I was elected by the masses'
And with that in mind he starts to unwind
A vicious attack on the finest of grasses

Well it's evil, wicked, mean and nasty
(Don't step on the grass, Sam)
And it will ruin our fair country
(Don't be such an ass, Sam)
Well, it will hook your Sue and Johnny
(You're so full of bull, Sam)
All will pay that disagree with me
(Please give up you already lost the fight, alright)

Misinformation Sam and Joe
Are feeding to the nation
But the one who didn't count counted them out

By exposing all their false quotations
Faced by a very awkward situation
This is all he'd say to save the day

Well it's evil, wicked, mean and nasty
(Don't step on the grass, Sam)
And it will ruin our fair country
(Don't be such an ass, Sam)
Well, it will hook your Sue and Johnny
(You're so full of bull, Sam)
All will pay that disagree with me
(Please give up you already lost the fight alright)

You waste my coin Sam, all you can
To jail my fellow man

For smoking all the noble weed
You need much more than him

You've been telling lies so long
Some believe they're true

So they close their eyes to things
You have no right to do

Just as soon as you are gone
Hope will start to climb

Please don't stay around too long
You're wasting precious time
Repeat Chorus

[davidpdx]

20. Which is fitting coming from a Russian given that his country has a huge drug problem too

8.5 million Russians, or 6 percent of the population, are drug addicts

MOSCOW, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- A Russian government report released Tuesday estimates there are 8.5 million drug addicts in the country, making up 6 percent of the population.
Russia has the most heroin addicts in the world, and almost 90 percent of the country's drug addicts use heroin, the report states.

The heroin market is estimated to be worth $6 billion, the government-backed news agency RIA Novosti said.

Up to 40,000 Russians die every year from drug-related illnesses, statistics indicate.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2013/09/17/85-million-Russians-or-6-percent-of-the-population-are-drug-addicts/UPI-31811379422389/#ixzz3IvY2eFxC