How Can Human Rights Provide a New Perspective on Drug Control?

This book uses a human rights perspective – developed philosophically, politically and legally – to change the way in which we think about drug control issues.

The prohibitionist approach towards tackling the ‘drugs problem’ is not working. The laws and mentality that see drugs as the problem and tries to fight them, makes the ‘drugs problem’ worse. While the law is the best-placed mechanism to regulate our actions in relation to particular drugs, this book argues against the stranglehold of the criminal law, and instead presents a human rights perspective to change the way we think about drug control issues. Part I develops a conceptual framework for human rights in the context of drug control – philosophically, politically and legally – and applies this to the domestic (UK) and international drug control system. Part II focuses on case law to illustrate both the potential and the limitations of successfully applying this unique perspective in practice. The conclusion points towards a bottom-up process for drug policy which is capable of reconfiguring the mentality of prohibition.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars of human rights, criminal law, criminology, politics and socio-legal studies.

Melissa L. Bone, Lecturer, Law, University of Leicester