Canada on drugs at the UN: Standing up for a long-overdue policy shift

Canada’s statement read like a checklist of progressive drug policy positions
The Hill Times (Canada)
Wednesday, April 13, 2016

canada-trudeau-cannabis2The applause persisted until the chair of the session eventually gavelled it to an end. The occasion? Canada’s statement at the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in Vienna, where countries were negotiating the text of a declaration to be adopted at the UN General Assembly’s Special Session on drugs (UNGASS) in New York. Sadly, at the CND, a faction of states ensured that the document fails to respond to the current realities of the “the world drug problem.” Hence, it was important that Canada’s applause-worthy statement read like a checklist of progressive drug policy positions, reflecting many points Canadian civil society groups have been advocating for years.