A Higher Authority: Canada's Cannabis Legalization in the Context of International Law

A. Eliason, R. Howse
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引用次数: 2

Abstract

Recreational cannabis is being decriminalized, deregulated and even legalized across a growing number of jurisdictions throughout the world. This article addresses the international law and policy implications of this trend, examining three international law frameworks — the drug control and anti-trafficking framework of the United Nations drug conventions, international human rights law, and the international economic law regime, in which the World Trade Organization (WTO) is central. In this article, we use Canada’s legal regime for cannabis liberalization as a case study that illuminates the tensions, but also the unexplored complementarities, between the different international legal regimes or orders that affect cannabis legalization. We argue that although the drug conventions appear to provide unequivocal requirements for drug criminalization, a closer read of the treaty texts suggest otherwise, particularly when read together with the international human rights obligations. At the same time, international economic law, which has largely been ignored in the discussion of cannabis legalization, demonstrates certain inconsistencies with the Canadian cannabis legalization scheme that must be taken into account in further legalization efforts by other states.
更高的权威:国际法背景下的加拿大大麻合法化
在世界各地越来越多的司法管辖区,娱乐性大麻正在被除罪化、解除管制,甚至合法化。本文探讨了这一趋势对国际法和政策的影响,审查了三个国际法框架-联合国毒品公约的药物管制和打击贩运框架、国际人权法和以世界贸易组织(WTO)为中心的国际经济法制度。在本文中,我们以加拿大大麻自由化的法律制度为案例研究,阐明了影响大麻合法化的不同国际法律制度或秩序之间的紧张关系,以及尚未探索的互补性。我们认为,虽然禁毒公约似乎明确规定了将毒品定为刑事犯罪的要求,但仔细阅读条约案文,特别是与国际人权义务一起阅读时,情况并非如此。与此同时,在大麻合法化的讨论中,国际经济法在很大程度上被忽视,它与加拿大的大麻合法化计划存在某些不一致之处,这是其他国家在进一步的大麻合法化努力中必须考虑到的。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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