Comment by Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov to RIA Novosti news agency on the Joint Statement at the Intersessional Meeting of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs

Thematic debates on problematic issues of international drug control policy took place in Vienna from Monday to Wednesday (October 23-25). Traditional meeting. But this time, during the discussions, perhaps more than ever before, two opposing approaches emerged: one «narco-liberal», the other - I would call it «traditional».

On the first day of work, on Monday, the Swiss side issued a two-page statement on behalf of 47 countries. This number of countries is quite a lot by Viennese standards. But what attracted attention was that not a single Asian country, not a single African one, joined them, only European ones, the USA, Canada, as well as a number of Latin American states that are completely in line with «narco-liberalism».

The statement is vague, but in the context of the fight against the global drug problem, all its attention is focused on human rights, treatment of drug addicts, and gender issues. And all this is good, but the question arises: where is law enforcement, where is the role of law enforcement agencies? The authors spoke on this topic, devoting 2.5 lines to it: that they will continue to actively fight organized drug crime, for the dissolution of drug cartels, the cessation of their existence - but with one very important stipilation: in accordance with international human rights obligations. Drug mafia and human rights in one phrase sound strange.

But the discussions really showed that they raise the question of the rights of drug manufacturers and dealers, they say, their rights must be protected. Probably, from the point of view of the law, they have certain rights, but bringing this to the international level as one of the priority tasks is quite strange, but these are narco liberals.

In response, 43 states from all regions of the planet presented their vision of current challenges in the fight against drugs. The Russian side was one of the initiators and one of the key players in the process of preparing this statement over the past month and a half. The result is impressive, in my opinion. Yes, 43 countries is a little less than the Westerners - narco liberals. But these are significant co-authors, for example, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan - if we talk about Central Asia. The Middle East is also well represented: Algeria, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Palestine. The same goes with Africa: Angola, Burkina Faso, Namibia, Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe are quite reputable countries. And finally, Asia is widely represented - China, India, Pakistan, Singapore played a very active role with a position close to ours, Indonesia, Laos, Vietnam, Türkiye, Bangladesh joined us. Truth is, that only two countries from Latin America joined the document: Cuba and Nicaragua. The full list of co-authors is published on the social networks of our Permanent Mission.

The statement is quite strong: it expresses deep concern about the trend towards legalization of cannabis, that is, marijuana, in an increasing number of countries both in the Western Hemisphere and now in the Eastern Hemisphere.

The legalization of drugs for non-medical and non-scientific purposes is prohibited by UN conventions, which are legally binding, that is, we are dealing with a group of predominantly Western countries that demonstrate outright legal nihilism when they go down this path, a complete disrespect for their legal obligations under international law under three UN anti-drug conventions. It is very good that they were reminded of this not by one, two or three countries, but by a large group of states, representing more than half of humanity. These countries also reminded them that such legalization leads to a violation of human rights, which they seem to care so much about, including the violation of children’s rights. There is a Convention on the Rights of the Child, which explicitly states that children must be protected from the harmful effects of drugs. In conditions where legalization is taking place, it is simply impossible to ensure such protection for children.

And unlike Western countries, it is clearly stated that law enforcement, including cross-border cooperation in this area, plays an extremely important role. Drug liberals call law enforcement a repressive policy, as if drugs could be dealt with without it, they convince everyone around that drug addicts and the drug mafia are «white and fluffy», and if their rights are protected, they will improve and behave well.

I would highlight one more point in our statement. The European Union has long introduced such a concept as «harm reduction» in relation to drugs. This is their goal, their conceptual basis. If we translate this into Russian, then they have already given in to drugs. And they are not thinking about countering them, the drug mafia, drug crime, but about reducing the harm. So, 43 countries clearly spoke out in favor of another concept - harm prevention. The important thing is that these theses were voiced on behalf of a very large group of reputable, influential countries. Observing the faces of our Western partners, we noted that many of them were very disappointed, and some were simply shocked that they encountered such powerful resistance from states that advocate strict compliance with the UN anti-drug conventions.

In the future, we can count on the fact that the 43 countries that have joined this statement will defend these positions during discussions, including when agreeing on any new important documents in the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs. We will have a new series of discussions in this area at the beginning of December, but the main event on this topic will be the plenary meeting of the UN Commission on Drugs in March next year, and just before that is the mid-term review of the implementation of the 2019 Ministerial Declaration, which will turn 5 years in March. And in this regard, a review will be carried out of what was done and what not.

As for the legalization of marijuana, in Europe there are different views on this matter, in the process of developing the relevant national legislation, objections are heard, but the trend is quite obvious: those countries that are taking the path of legalizing drugs, for starters marijuana, demonstrate legal nihilism, disdain for its international legal obligations. While remaining parties to the conventions, they grossly violate their provisions, not accidentally, but systematically and on an ongoing basis. This cannot be called anything other than disgrace. But these are our partners.