This paper explores key lessons from the 1990 Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on Drug Abuse (UNGASS 1990) and the 1998 Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on the World Drug Problem (UNGASS 1998), and tracks subsequent policy events and trends. It discusses the wide array of increasing tensions and cracks in the “Vienna consensus,” as well as systemic challenges and recent treaty breaches. Various options for treaty reform are explored and the following questions are considered: Given policy developments around the world this past decade, what outcomes can the 2016 Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on the World Drug Problem (UNGASS 2016) have in terms of a new political compromise? How can UNGASS 2016 contribute to more system-wide coherence where previous attempts failed? Can UNGASS 2016 realistically initiate a process of modernizing the global drug control system and breathe oxygen into a system risking asphyxiation? Finally, is there a chance that treaty reform options will be discussed at all, or do today’s political realities still block possible future regime changes?
This chapter discusses the relatively little-known convention framework focusing on the traditionally connected issues of drugs and crime and the differing consequences of treaty flexibility within each domain. It begins with an overview of the evolution and expansion in scope of the international drug control regime and its structural focus on narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, and illicit traffic in both. A range of growing tensions are discussed as views of the issue area among member states diverge and systemic dissonance across the UN becomes more obvious, particularly in relation to human rights. The chapter then moves on to examine the development of the transnational organized crime and corruption regime and assessment of the conventions upon which it is based. It concludes by looking to the future with a discussion of some of the available options to address tensions within the drug control regime, including what lessons might be learned from the governance structures of their sister crime control conventions.
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