Release's submission to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

Release welcomes the opportunity to submit evidence to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in pursuance of  Human Rights Council Resolution A/HRC/28/L.22  which “Requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a study… on the impact of the world drug problem on the enjoyment of human rights"

Through the delivery of our services we hear directly from those most affected by the UK’s drug laws in particular those impacted by drugs policing, the criminal justice system more broadly and those who use drugs problematically. Often the perception is that the human rights abuses of people who use drugs is confined to certain parts of the world but in our view people in the UK who use drugs, particularly those whose use is considered problematic, are subject to high levels of discrimination and marginalisation. The attached submission details practices in the UK that engage a number of human right obligations.