Pubdate: Wed, 13 Mar 2013
Source: International Herald-Tribune (International)
Copyright: International Herald Tribune 2013
Contact:  http://global.nytimes.com/?iht
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/212
Author: Yury Fedotov
Page: 7

DRUG USERS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Regarding "An ugly truth in the war on drugs" by Fernando Henrique 
Cardoso and Ruth Dreifuss (Views, March 11): Rather than ignoring the 
issue, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is doing 
everything possible to ensure that drug control does not lead to 
human rights abuses. In doing so, we are pursuing our primary 
purpose, which is drug control, in tandem with the three pillars of 
the United Nations: peace, security and development, and human rights.

The authors of the article have quoted us selectively. They say that 
while the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime acknowledges that drug users 
are pushed to the margins of society, we have failed to note that 
these people's human rights have been ignored. Not true. The same 
report quoted in the article also highlighted the human rights of drug users.

Many of my own subsequent statements, including at the ongoing 
session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, reiterated the 
need for drug control to respect human rights. We need to treat drug 
users as patients, not as criminals, and we will continue to use 
every opportunity to persuade member states of this need.

YURY FEDOTOV, VIENNA The writer is executive director of the U.N. 
Office on Drugs and Crime.
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