The international regime of drug control may violate the human right to life and security.

Abstract

Critics of the international regime of drug control have often pointed to its criminogenic effects, maintaining that drug criminalization gives rise to a profitable illicit drugs market which in turn sustains organized crime networks. Here I will expand upon this critique to argue that the violent crime resulting from the drug criminalization regime may constitute a violation of the human right to life and security. To support this argument, I will discuss the extent to which policy makers and the citizens who empower them may stand morally responsible for unintended but foreseeable consequences of the policies they implement. I will note that a north-south imbalance is at play: while the Global North has been the driving force behind the criminalization regime, the violent criminality entailed by the regime of drug control has impacted the Global South most strongly.