Human Rights and International Drug Control Policies

"In recent years there has been growing attention to the human rights implications of the international narcotics control regime among non-governmental organisations⁶ and UN human rights monitors.⁷ [Special Rapporteurs] Human rights violations documented in the name of drug control in countries across the world include: the execution of hundreds of people annually for drug offences;⁸ the arbitrary detention of hundreds of thousands of people who use (or are accused of using) illicit drugs;⁹ the infliction of torture, or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, in the name of ‘drug treatment’;¹⁰ the extrajudicial killings of people suspected of being drug users or drug traffickers;¹¹ and the denial of potentially life saving health services for people who use drugs.¹²"