Since legalizing pot would violate UN laws, experts say it’s time for Canada to pull out of drug treaties

nationalpost.com
May 16, 2016
By Sharon Kirkey

The Liberal government’s vow to legalize pot is a flagrant violation of international drug laws, a global health law expert says - making it an ideal time to either renegotiate international drug-control treaties or pull out of them altogether, he suggests.

In a commentary in this week’s Canadian Medical Association Journal, the University of Ottawa’s Steven Hoffman says efforts to depenalize, decriminalize and legalize marijuana can be good for public health, “if done right.”

However, the Liberal government’s pot bill, expected to be introduced next spring, would almost certainly run up against three United Nations treaties requiring marijuana possession to remain a criminal offense, and that Canada, as a signatory, is legally obliged to follow, writes Hoffman, director of the U of O’s Global Strategy Lab and associate professor of law.

Canada can’t “pick and choose which international laws to follow without encouraging other countries to do the same.”

Still, Hoffman says the drug treaties were drafted beginning in the 1960s and reflect the philosophy of a war on drugs “that we did not win, and, history seems to show, we’re not going to win either” using punitive or criminal sanctions.

If Canada wants to be one of the world’s most progressive nations, it has several options, Hoffman argues - give its citizens a constitutional right to use pot, persuade enough countries to either rewrite the treaties or grant Canada an exemption, or formally opt out of them.

Given that convincing the 32 countries “with death penalties for drug smuggling to reconsider the strict UN drug-control treaties seems as politically possible as adding a constitutional right to smoke marijuana into the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” they write, the third legal option is likely the only feasible one.

“Formally withdrawing from outdated treaties like these is a country’s sovereign right. It may also be a moral duty if the government believes the conventions’ required policies are harmful.”

“This is an issue that really dichotomizes the world into countries that have taken extremely mean, punitive measures - treating addicts as evil people - versus the other half of the world that is starting to treat addiction as a medical challenge,” Hoffman said in an interview.

The Liberals have an opportunity to lead the world “because there are no good models right now,” he added.

Either way, he said Canada has promised to uphold multilateralism and follow international law. Violating the drug conventions would weaken Canada’s global position, he argues.

“The international legal system benefits everybody in the world - and Canada historically has been at the vanguard of promoting and protecting that international system.”