US Non Paper: UNGASS on Drugs

A short preamble to any outcome document should: (…) Emphasize the need to implement drug-control policy consistent with the core UN mandates of peace, security, human rights and development.

1. Declare that people who use drugs should receive support, treatment and protection, rather than be punished.

3. Highlight the need to invest in comprehensive evidence-based demand reduction initiatives, including education, screening, behavioral and medication-assisted treatment, scientific research for effective treatment as well as overdose prevention programs with recovery as a goal.

7. Reaffirm the need to address the issues of injecting drug use and sharing of needles, syringes and other infected equipment, as a significant route for the transmission of HIV/AIDS and other blood-borne diseases.

Objective: Criminal justice policies should be designed and implemented with the aim of improving the health and safety of individuals while preventing and reducing violence and other harmful consequences to communities. Accordingly, law enforcement institutions should coordinate with public health and social services agencies. Criminal justice tools should adhere to the principle of proportionality and include a full spectrum of responses including imprisonment as well as alternatives to incarceration.

3. Invite Member States to consider reviewing their drug sentencing policies and practices to facilitate collaboration between justice and public health authorities in the development and implementation of initiatives that utilize alternative measures to conviction for drug-related offenses of a minor nature;

4. Encourage the consideration of alternatives to incarceration and other criminal-justice reform for drug-related offenses with a view to deterring crime, achieving the rehabilitation and reintegration into society of drug users, advancing the well-being of individuals and communities and reducing overcrowding in prisons.

1. Recognize the continuing indispensability of narcotic drugs, including opiates, for medical and scientific purposes as outlined in the conventions.

2. Invites the INCB, in cooperation with governments to develop country assessments and programs to implement regulatory measures to ensure the sufficient availability of such drugs for medical or scientific purposes, within the appropriate control mechanisms outlined in the Conventions.