Human Rights

As the UN's Commission on Narcotic Drugs met this week in Vienna, it and its brother UN anti-drug agencies came under fierce attack for sacrificing human rights on the altar of the drug war.

Mexican soldiers poured into Reynosa and other border towns in the state of Tamaulipas last month in response to a wave of drug prohibition-related violence. They haven't stopped the violence, but they have put the screws to some sectors of the local economy and committed some human rights violations. Few observers there or across the river think the answer lies in Washington's proposed massive anti-drug aid package.

The 2007 International Drug Policy Reform Conference took place last weekend in New Orleans. Here is a taste of what is was like.

The 2007 International Drug Policy Reform Conference opened with a bang Thursday in New Orleans as the United Nation's top drug fighter addressed a skeptical and sometimes hostile audience.

One year after he took office, Mexican President Felipe Calderon says the war on drugs remains his highest priority. Some 24,000 troops are in the field, but the traffic and the violence appear to continue unabated.

Investigatory panels looking into 2,500 drug war killings in Thailand in the spring of 2003 have determined that more than half of those killed had nothing to do with drugs. Meanwhile, at least one Thai politician wants to return to the tough drug policies that led to those mass killings.

Four and a half years ago, then Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra vowed to wipe out drug use in Thailand. Within three months, 2,500 people were dead. Now, a new government is about to release a series of reports on the killings.

Iran continues to execute drug offenders. Two more were hanged October 30.

Southeast Asian countries' tough line on drug users is exacerbating the HIV/AIDS crisis in the region, experts in Bangkok said last weekend.

Whatever direction the drug war compass points, one way or its opposite, it never points anywhere good.