Abstract
This
paper reimagines drug policy–specifically psychedelic drug policy–through the
prism of human rights. Challenges to the incumbent prohibitionist paradigm that
have been brought from this perspective to date - namely by calling for
exemptions from criminalisation on therapeutic or religious grounds - are
considered, before the assertion is made that there is a need to go beyond such
reified constructs, calling for an end to psychedelic drug prohibitions on the
basis of the more fundamental right to cognitive liberty. This central concept
is explicated, asserted as being a crucial component of freedom of thought, as
enshrined within Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
It is argued that the right to cognitive liberty is routinely breached by the
existence of the system of drug prohibition in the United Kingdom (UK), as
encoded within the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (MDA). On this basis, it is
proposed that Article 9 could be wielded to challenge the prohibitive system in
the courts. This legal argument is supported by a parallel and entwined
argument grounded in the political philosophy of classical liberalism: namely,
that the state should only deploy the criminal law where an individual's
actions demonstrably run a high risk of causing harm to others.
Beyond
the courts, it is recommended that this liberal, rights-based approach also
inform psychedelic drug policy activism, moving past the current predominant
focus on harm reduction, towards a prioritization of benefit maximization. How
this might translate in to a different regulatory model for psychedelic drugs,
a third way, distinct from the traditional criminal and medical systems of
control, is tentatively considered. However, given the dominant political
climate in the UK - with its move away from rights and towards a more authoritarian
drug policy - the possibility that it is only through underground movements
that cognitive liberty will be assured in the foreseeable future is
contemplated.
Purchase full article at: http://goo.gl/wxHNwp
By: Charlotte Walsh
School of Law, University of Leicester University Road LEICESTER LE1 7RH
More at: https://twitter.com/hiv insight
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