CANNABIS CULTURE – The Alliance for Rights-Oriented Drug Policy (AROD) and the Patient Association for Safe Cannabis Use (PASCAN) will have a demonstration for human rights outside the Norwegian Director of Public Prosecutions office on 20 April 2023 at 1400-1600 hrs.
The purpose of the rally is to ensure accountability in drug policy, as the Norwegian Supreme Court and the Storting protect the drug law from inquiry. For 14 years, Norwegian drug users have asked for human rights protection, but the justice system continues to turn a blind eye to allegations of a connection between the drug policy and the arbitrary persecution of the past and guarantees of legal certainty are neglected.
The damage to the rule of law is profound, because several reports testify to the failure of the legislative to protect the rights of drug users. Most recently, in January 2023, the Committee for conduct, integrity, and conflict of interest in law enforcement noted a conflict between administrative law and rights law, where human rights have come out short. Its call for leadership is met with the resistance that is characteristic of a toxic culture, and civil society has had several rallies to promote effective minority protection. The demonstration outside the Director of Public Prosecutions’ office will be the third, and it is hoped that the director will accept responsibility.
Failure of the Justice System
The protest takes place outside the Director of Public Prosecutions office because the government use “public health” as justification for a policy that is based on double standards and that makes things worse. Instead of being a professional secretariat for political leadership, the Ministry of Justice has taken on the role of a political secretariat, and human rights violations continue because the Justice Minister has not taken care of constitutional obligations.
After 60 years of punishment, the evidence shows that the more the police intervene in the drug market, the more violence, desperation, overdoses, and insecurity occur in the local environment. Still, the Norwegian government refuses to investigate the pros and cons of a regulated drug market as opposed to a criminal market.
As more and more nations regulate the cannabis market to protect public health and several international courts have found legitimate autonomy interest in cannabis use, the refusal to consider less invasive means is increasingly problematic, and Section 102 of the Norwegian Constitution puts a responsibility on the state to justify punishment.
Rule of law guarantees dictate that the state must promote the least intrusive solution, and that there must be a credible relationship between ends and means, but for 20 years Norwegian expert committees have confirmed the lack of a basis for punishment in drug policy and for over 100 years international reports have done the same.
The aim of ARODs and PASCANs civil disobedience therefore is to safeguard the rule of law. The Norwegian justice system has had several opportunities, such as AROD’s civil disobedience outside the Main Police station in 2021, and AROD and PASCAN’s cannabisfest at the Storting on 22 September 2022. The purpose of these events was to ensure accountability in drug policy, but on 20 December 2022 the Supreme Court rejected the drug users right to judicial review by giving politicians free rein. The Supreme Court did not question that Sturla Henriksbø, a state attorney and politician from the Christian Democratic Party (KrF), set aside the Constitution to protect the party’s drug policy from criticism. Instead, without justification, the Supreme Court has overlooked a legal tradition dating back to 1822, and in this way the drug law was shielded from a human rights analysis.
That the Court took this step, knowing that the defense’s appeal invalidated all the reasons for the conviction, testifies to the power of public panic. This phenomenon can only survive as long as there is no integrity in the justice system, and it is important that the Director of Public Prosecutions takes action.
The responsibility of the Director of Public Prosecutions
Not only do cannabis users have the right not to be unfairly discriminated against from alcohol users, but the police have the right to provide better services, the prosecution and the courts have the right to build on sound ethics, families have the right not to be torn apart by dysfunctional and overly intrusive laws, and the nation has a right not to be divided by an enemy image that impairs sound judgment. It is becoming increasingly obvious that the hunt for scapegoats undermines the integrity of the legal system, and that society has the right to be free from a policy that depends on double standards to exist. For this reason, AROD and PASCAN offer another opportunity for legal development, and the police and prosecuting authorities should appreciate a new opportunity to stand up for the rule of law.
As the Director of Public Prosecutions makes clear in his consultation input for drug reform, it is no longer possible to build drug policy on a drug-free ideal. Instead, as the Committee for conduct, integrity, and conflict of interest in law enforcement points out, we live in a time of transition, and human rights must be emphasized. What we have seen of legal development in previous civil disobedience cases has been frightening for supporters of a liberal rule of law, and on 20 April 2023, AROD will hand over sufficient cannabis to warrant court proceedings. The police themselves choose how the handover will take place, but the Director of Public Prosecutions is invited to receive the seizure with an assurance that uncertainty about the use of force will be taken seriously. This means that the Director of Public Prosecutions undertakes to provide clarification on whether sections 231 and 232 of the Penal Code mark an unreasonable distinction between legal and illegal substances, whether this is a case of arbitrary persecution, and how the damage done to the rule of law can be remedied.
The event will take place in the park area outside Oslo Cathedral, closest to Stortorvet 2, where the Director of Public Prosecutions has his office.
For more information on ARODs civil disobedience and the case that is heading for the
European Court of Human Rights, visit ARODs website.
