Approximately six years ago, the country of Bolivia withdrew from a major UN drug control treaty in order to legalize the coca leaf in their country. Once the legalization had occurred, they rejoined the same treaty with the newly legalized leaf as an exception.
The controversial decision drew criticism from the international community. Still, Bolivia maintained that their actions were purely cultural, as chewing coca leaves is an ancient practice among their indigenous population.
Now, in 2017, Canada faces a similar challenge with the upcoming legalization of adult-use marijuana. The Great White North is party to the same UN agreements, and Canada’s federal government has been tight-lipped about how they plan to address the conflict.
Is it possible that Canada will tear a page from Bolivia’s drug policy handbook?
“Sovereign countries are allowed to withdraw from international legal obligations that they have previously committed to. In this case, the UN drug control treaties do allow countries to withdraw if they give notice to the UN Secretary General,” said Steven Hoffman, a University of Ottawa Law Professor who specializes in international law, in an interview with Marijuana.com. “In this case, Bolivia wanted to ensure that its citizens had access to coca leaf, which has cultural significance in the country.”
Hoffman went on to add that the Bolivian Government did two things to achieve their goals. “One is they made a constitutional amendment, giving citizens the right to possess and use coca leaf. They did that in order to take advantage of the UN drug control treaty’s exemption for constitutional provisions. So while it’s not in the spirit of the law, if Canada changed its constitution to give Canadians the right to use cannabis, then it would be perfectly legal under international law.”
Although it’s possible for Canada to do this, Hoffman does not believe that it’s politically feasible for Trudeau to take this particular action. “Just imagine if the current government proposed to open up the constitution and include a new right to use cannabis in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It would open up a huge can of worms.”
As previously mentioned, the second action that Bolivia took to allow for their change in coca law, was to withdraw from the treaties and then rejoin with a reservation. “It’s when a country says [they] will agree to adopt this international law but with a small exception.”
The risk in the move to secede from the agreements and then come back is that other countries are allowed to object to the new exception in the rejoining process.
If more than one-third of the UN countries object to Canada rejoining the treaties with cannabis as a legal commodity, then Canada might not be allowed to rejoin. Hoffman believes, however, it is unlikely that enough countries would object. “We saw in the case of coca leaf, that not enough countries were sufficiently concerned to make a formal objection and cannabis is of far less concern to public health than cocaine.”
In the coming months, dealing with the UN drug treaties is one of the more important logistical realities that Canada needs to face before its move to legalize adult-use cannabis.
It remains to be seen which option Prime Minister Trudeau will take to make good on his promise to Canadians, while still honoring his international obligations. Whatever path Canada takes, the result will signal to the world that marijuana is not the danger to society that it was once touted to be, and that a new alternative to the failed drug war is better for everyone than the status quo.
credit:marijuana.com
