Drug policy and human rights: the Canadian context — Submission to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

“Canada is a party to the three main UN drug control conventions, which aim to control illicit drugs by reducing supply and demand, in particular through requiring States Parties to adopt varying degrees of prohibitions and sanctions on a range of designated controlled substances, while also providing some degree of (often contested) flexibility for States Parties in their approach. Yet Canada must also fulfill its domestic constitutional obligations under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as well as those under international human rights law, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and other core human rights treaties, all of which Canada has ratified.”

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