Enacting Safety and Omitting Gender: Australian Human Rights Scrutiny Processes Concerning Alcohol and Other Drug Laws

Global momentum for drug law reform is building. But how might such reform be achieved? Many argue that human rights offer a possible normative framework for guiding such reform. There has been very little research on whether human rights processes can actually achieve such aims, however. This paper responds to this knowledge gap. It explores how one human rights mechanism—the “parliamentary rights scrutiny process”—deals with alcohol and other drugs. We consider how four Australian parliaments scrutinized proposed new laws that would deal with alcohol and other drugs for their human rights “compatibility.” We find that laws that would limit the rights of people who use alcohol and other drugs were routinely seen as justifiable on the basis that alcohol and other drugs were inherently “unsafe.” Crucially, safety was conceptualized in a gender-neutral way, without regard to the potential role of gender, including specific masculinities, in the production of phenomena such as family violence and sexual violence and other public safety problems. Instead, such problems were regularly constituted as consequences, simply, of alcohol or other drug consumption. In making this argument, we build on the pioneering work of David Moore and colleagues (e.g., 2020). Their work asks important questions about how the causes of violence are constituted across different settings, including research and policy. Drawing on ideas from scholars such as Carol Bacchi and John Law, they identify “gendering practices” and “collateral realities” in research and policy on violence, in which the role of men and masculinities are routinely obscured, displaced or rendered invisible. We find similar problems underway within human rights law. In highlighting these gendering practices and collateral realities, we aim to draw attention to the limitations of some human rights processes and the need for more work in this area.

Decolonizing drug policy

This paper reviews evidence of how drug control has been used to uphold colonial power structures in select countries. It demonstrates the racist and xenophobic impact of drug control policy and proposes a path to move beyond oppressive systems and structures. The ‘colonization of drug control’ refers to the use of drug control by states in Europe and America to advance and sustain the systematic exploitation of people, land and resources and the racialized hierarchies, which were established under colonial control and continue to dominate today. Globally, Black, Brown and Indigenous peoples are disproportionately targeted for drug law enforcement and face discrimination across the criminal system. These communities face higher arrest, prosecution and incarceration rates for drug offenses than other communities, such as majority populations, despite similar rates of drug use and selling among (and between) different races. Current drug policies have contributed to an increase in drug-related deaths, overdoses and sustained transnational criminal enterprises at the expense of the lives of people who use drugs, their families and greater society. This review provides further evidence of the need to reform the current system. It outlines a three-pillared approach to rebuilding drug policy in a way that supports health, dignity and human rights, consisting of: (1) the decriminalization of drugs and their use; (2) an end to the mass incarceration of people who use drugs; (3) the redirection of funding away from ineffective and punitive drug control and toward health and social programs.

A Model for Predicting the Class of Illicit Drug Suspects and Offenders

In this study, the artificial neural network was deployed to develop a classification model for predicting the class of a drug-related suspect into either the drug peddler or non-drug peddler class. A dataset consisting of 262 observations on drug suspects and offenders in central Nigeria was used to train the model which uses parameters such as exhibit type, suspect’s age, exhibit weight, and suspect’s gender to predict the class of a suspect, with a predictive accuracy of 83%. The model sets the pace for the implementation of a full system for use at airports, seaports, police stations, and by security agents concerned with drug-related matters. The accurate classification of suspects and offenders will ensure a faster and correct reference to the sections of the drug law that correspond to a particular offence for appropriate actions such as prosecution or rehabilitation.

Caring for persons with drug use disorders in the Yangon Region, Myanmar: Socioeconomic and psychological burden, coping strategies and barriers to coping

Drug use disorder (DUD) is a serious health condition that imposes a heavy burden on the persons who have a drug addiction experience and their families, especially in countries, such as Myanmar, where few formal support mechanisms are in place and repressive drug laws exacerbate the situation. Yet, in Myanmar, little is known about how informal caregivers are affected. This qualitative study aims at exploring the socioeconomic and psychological burden that informal caregivers in Myanmar encounter, coping strategies they employ, as well as barriers to coping they face. Thirty primary informal caregivers were chosen purposively from a mental health hospital in Yangon for in-depth interviews. The recorded interviews were transcribed and the data were analysed using framework analysis. The results revealed that financial constraint, income loss, social limitation and negative impact on family cohesion are important dimensions of socioeconomic burden, whereas sadness, anger, helplessness, worry, fear and guilt are the main psychological distress factors encountered by caregivers of persons with DUD. Key coping strategies employed by caregivers include religious coping, financial coping, acceptance and planning. Moreover, perceived stigma towards persons with DUD and their caregivers was very high and caregivers received hardly any social support, inter alia because of the country’s drug law which reinforces stigma and discrimination. Neither the government nor any other organization in Myanmar provided financial support to the caregivers. The results of this study showed that caring for persons with DUD has devastating effects on caregivers and their families. While the 2018 National Drug Control Policy can potentially help alleviate the burden on substance users and their families, further amendments of the existing drug law are urgently needed. Moreover, strengthening prevention and harm reduction approaches, improving treatment and rehabilitation services, as well as stigma-reducing educational campaigns should be considered a priority.

Sentencing for social supply of illicit drugs in Australia

In Australia, threshold quantities of illicit drugs act as an indicator of supply offences in distinguishing traffickers from users. This is problematic because it can be difficult for the courts to discriminate between heavy users or ‘social suppliers’ and ‘dealers proper’. Currently, there is no systematic analysis of how the judiciary in Australia navigate the relationship between different types of supply and the consistency and proportionality of the sentence applied. This analysis maps out how current sentencing practices respond to offenders involved in ‘social supply’ and ‘minimally commercial supply’ who are charged with drug trafficking. It makes recommendations that could inform future drug law reform, including that review is needed of the system of thresholds; that sentencing objectives of general and specific deterrence be reconsidered in cases of social supply and minimally commercial supply; and that consideration be given to expanding the scope of current diversion programs to accommodate the needs of the types of offenders and offending behaviour addressed in this study.

Possessing Drugs, Possessing Rights: Harm Reduction and Drug Policy Reform in Argentina

Argentina’s national drug law, Law 23.737, has been in effect since 1989. Based on prohibitionist drug policy, this law was intended to severely punish drug traffickers and protect the public from drug use-related health concerns. However, it has failed to achieve these goals, and instead targets people who use drugs (PWUD) and brands them “criminals.” In response, the Argentine government announced its intent to reform Law 23.737 in 2008, sparking widespread debate among health, legal, and social service professionals. This article discusses this debate from the perspective of harm reductionists, those who work to reduce the negative effects of drug use rather than eliminate drug use or ensure abstinence. Drawing on archival research and 16 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Argentina, this article examines the positionality of harm reductionists in this drug policy reform, particularly the controversial proposal to decriminalize drug possession for personal use. Demonstrating their contention that Argentina’s legal apparatus is a major contributor to PWUD’s discrimination, stigmatization, and isolation from health and social services, I argue that challenging these problems through policy engagement allows Argentine harm reductionists to draw attention to the broader question of PWUD’s rights and to ultimately recast PWUD as rights-bearing citizens.

Where Is the Fairness in Canadian Cannabis Legalization? Lessons to be Learned from the American Experience

Canada has received praise and international attention for its departure from strict cannabis prohibition and the introduction of a legal regulatory framework for adult use. In addition to the perceived public health and public safety benefits associated with legalization, reducing the burden placed on the individuals criminalized for cannabis use served as an impetus for change. In comparison to many jurisdictions in the United States, however, Canadian legalization efforts have done less to address the harms that drug law enforcement has inflicted on individuals and communities. This article documents the racialized nature of drug prohibition in Canada and the US and compares the stated aims of legalization in in both jurisdictions. The article outlines the various reparative measures being proposed and implemented in America and contrasts those with the situation in Canada, arguing, furthermore that the absence of social justice measures in Canadian legalization is an extension of the systemic racism perpetuated under prohibition.

DP 0256 - Judicial attitudes under shifting jurisprudence: evidence from Brazil's new drug law of 2006

This paper exploits the diversity of panels at the court of appeals in the state of São Paulo to address the role of career backgrounds and ideology in shaping the response of judicial decisions to a major shift in jurisprudence on drug offenses. The Brazilian constitution reserves 80% of the seats in appellate courts to career judges, 10% to lawyers and 10% to prosecutors. In practice however, vacancies in panels coupled with backlogs have significantly increased participation of judges sitting by designation in appellate panels - who acted as rapporteurs in as much as 14% of all criminal appeals in São Paulo, between 2009-2013. Former lawyers and prosecutors are appointed by the state governor after nomination processes at the bar association and at the ministerial office. Judges sitting by designation are chosen at the discretion of the court’s highest council and do not retain prerogatives of tenured appellate judges and are typically hired with the purpose of reducing backlogs. Their performance affects their chances of being promoted to the court of appeals, relatively to similar judges that have not been designated. Based on a large dataset of criminal appeals related to drug offenses in the State São Paulo, Brazil, this study exploits the exogenous assignment of cases to rapporteurs, to identify the causal effects of career backgrounds on the response of appellate judges to a major shift in drug jurisprudence, which revoked the prohibition of conversion of confinement punishment in drug offenses introduced by the new drug law of 2006. Estimates of treatment-effects, conditional on case characteristics and panel-specific fixed-effects, confirm that career judges respond favorably to defendants, in line with the jurisprudence shift. Former prosecutors react against the shift, responding unfavorably to defendants. Former lawyers tend to exhibit a mixed behavior, weighing in their preferences as well as strategically favoring predominant “law and order” views. Finally sitting judges behave in a diffident fashion but also favoring prosecution.