Resource Library
Damon Barrett – Drugs and human rights: is drug law enforcement proportionate?
Damon Barrett, Senior Human Rights Analyst at Harm Reduction International, discusses human rights and drug law enforcement at the launch of the Count the Costs campaign in Vienna.
Launch of the Count the Costs campaign
Martin Powell, Count the Costs project coordinator, speaks at the launch of the campaign at the 2011 United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna.
Russia, human rights and the building understanding of harm reduction and the right to health
The UN Committee on Economic Social and Cultural rights of Russia’s implementation of the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, a central component of which is the right to health.
Simona Merkinaite – The health and human rights impacts of drug law enforcement in the Eurasian regions
Simona Merkinaite, Policy and Advocacy Program Officer at the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network, talks about the effects of drug law enforcement in Eurasia on human rights and public health.
Rappers risk lives to protest Mexico's drug war
Julian Cardona describes how Mexican rappers in Ciudad Juarez are using internet radio as a medium to condemn the violence stemming from President Felipe Calderón's war on drugs. According to other musicians, these condemnations have resulted in the murders of at least six rappers since May 2010.
Winning the war on drugs: the costs
A Sydney Morning Herald article that considers the costs of the war on drugs, in particular the deaths that result from unregulated doses, the crime fuelled by the war, and the vast and ineffective spending on law enforcement.
Youth activist Aram Barra on Mexican drug policy
Mexican youth activist Aram Barra speaks to New Zealand radio station 95bFM about the human cost of Mexico's war on drugs, the marches that took place in May 2011 against this war, and the important role of young people in forming public policy.
Jail the drug dealers, free the users
In a Bangkok Post article, Jon Ungphakom, a human rights activist and former Thailand senator, highlights the Count the Costs campaign and discusses the ineffectiveness of Thailand's harsh drug policy.
Conviction by Numbers: Threshold Quantities for Drug Policy
A report from the Transnational Institute which shows that, in many countries, when it comes to drug offences, the presumption of innocence has effectively been replaced with a presumption of guilt – an erosion of one of the most basic of due process guarantees reflected in international human rights law.
The Failed Drug War Has Created a Human Rights Nightmare – How Can This Happen in Our Country and Go Virtually Undiscussed?
Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, argues that if we fail to commit to ending mass incarceration, future generations will judge us harshly. She draws attention to the fact that the war on drugs has been the driving force behind a quintupling of the US prison population over the last few decades, with African Americans disproportionately bearing the brunt of this increase.