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1. Drugs and the Death Penalty

Author:
Patrick Gallahue
Publication Date:
10-2015
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
There are currently thousands of people on death row for drug-related offenses in Asia, the Middle East, and parts of Africa. The international drug control system must share the blame, as treaties promoting strict and severe punishments for drug offenses have opened the door to such responses. UN human rights and drug control bodies now recognize that the death penalty for drugs violates international law, but a number of states that are parties to drug control treaties argue that capital drug laws are a permissible sanction. While many countries around the world are abolishing the death penalty for all crimes at an unprecedented rate, other countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia are increasingly prescribing the death penalty for drug-related crimes despite evidence showing that it has not been effective in curbing the flow of drugs across territories. While there no fixed model for the kinds of people who have suffered the death penalty for drugs, all too often those who become smugglers borders represent people in desperate circumstances who have been coerced or tricked into breaking the law. Sometimes they are mere teenagers. Executing those who are referred to as “little fish” is disproportionate to the crime. And as both international human rights and drug control bodies have made clear, it is a violation of human rights law. Drugs and The Death Penalty explores how the laws that subject drug offenders to capital punishment are inextricably linked to the international war on drugs and provides recommendations for governments to review current policies and explore alternate, less draconian sanctions.
Topic:
Crime, International Law, War on Drugs, Criminal Justice, Drugs, Public Health, and Death Penalty
Political Geography:
Africa, Middle East, and Asia

2. Treated with Cruelty: Abuses in the Name of Rehabilitation

Publication Date:
06-2011
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
The Campaign to Stop Torture in Health Care, a coalition led by the Open Society Foundations, has published a new report documenting the personal testimonies of men and women who have been detained in drug rehabilitation centers in Cambodia, China, Mexico, and Russia. Each year, thousands of people are locked away in these centers without any real access to medical care or legal recourse. Drug users rarely enter such detention centers voluntarily, and even if they do, they nearly never are allowed to leave at their will. Detention centers often rely on physical abuse, shackles, solitary confinement, and other indignities to "treat" drug addiction and extract labor from the detainees. Moreover, they are often overseen by government authorities, and private companies are allowed to exploit the forced labor inside. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of people quickly return to drug use once they are released from these centers. The report, Treated with Cruelty: Abuses in the Name of Rehabilitation, presents the harrowing personal stories alongside commentary about the human rights that are being denied to the individuals who are locked away. Manfred Nowak, former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, also adds his voice in an introduction calling for the closure of drug detention facilities.
Topic:
Health, War on Drugs, Law, Drugs, Public Health, and Rehabilitation
Political Geography:
Russia, China, Cambodia, and Mexico

3. Treatment or Torture? Applying International Human Rights Standards to Drug Detention Centers

Publication Date:
06-2011
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
People identified as drug users in many countries are confined to abusive locked detention centers for months or even years. Such detention centers are supposedly mandated to treat and "rehabilitate" drug users, but the "treatment" they receive in some cases amounts to torture or other cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment. In Treatment or Torture? Applying International Human Rights Standards to Drug Detention Centers, legal experts review common forms of abuse in drug detention centers and show how these practices in many cases are in violation of basic human rights treaties widely ratified by most nations worldwide. International health and drug-control agencies—including the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, UNAIDS, and the World Health Organization—all endorse comprehensive, evidence-based drug dependence treatment services. Yet drug detention centers rarely provide treatment that meets these standards. Depending on the country, so-called rehabilitation consists of a regime of military drills, forced labor, psychological and moral re-education, and shackling, caning, and beating. Treatment or Torture? comes in advance of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking and the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture—both on June 26, 2011. The report was published by the Campaign to Stop Torture in Health Care, a coalition led by the Open Society Foundations, and featured legal analysis by Human Rights Watch, Harm Reduction International, and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network.
Topic:
Health, Human Rights, International Law, War on Drugs, Health Care Policy, Criminal Justice, Drugs, and Public Health
Political Geography:
Global Focus

4. Parity—Expanding Equitable Insurance Coverage for Addiction and Mental Health Treatment

Publication Date:
06-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
On January 1, 2010, the Wellstone-Domenici Parity Act went into effect, expanding access to mental health and addiction treatment coverage in many employer-sponsored group health plans. The new federal law applies to group health plans covering 50 or more employees that provide any level of coverage for treatment of mental health and substance use disorders. Those plans are now required to cover mental health and substance use disorders benefits at “parity,” or in the same way as they cover other medical and surgical services. Simply put, “parity” is the treatment of addiction and mental illness in insurance benefits in the same way as other medical conditions. When the law is fully implemented, it is estimated that 140 million Americans could have improved access to addiction and mental health treatment services should they need it.
Topic:
Health, Health Care Policy, Mental Health, Drugs, and Equality
Political Geography:
United States

5. At What Cost? HIV and Human Rights Consequences of the Global "War on Drugs"

Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
A decade after governments worldwide pledged to achieve a "drug-free world," there is little evidence that the supply or demand of illicit drugs has been reduced. Instead, aggressive drug control policies have led to increased incarceration for minor offenses, human rights violations, and disease. This book examines the descent of the global war on drugs into a war on people who use drugs. From Puerto Rico to Phnom Penh, Manipur to Moscow, the scars of this war are carried on the bodies and minds of drug users, their families, and the health and service providers who work with them.
Topic:
Health, War on Drugs, and Drugs
Political Geography:
Global Focus