As mentioned above, the human rights conventions state that public officials are positively obliged to address allegations of human rights violations. This means that they are duty-bound to have the issue reviewed by an independent, impartial and competent tribunal, and this being our right we, the people, should leverage it.

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Consequently, on 11 September, 2021, AROD will sell cannabis outside the main police station in Oslo. The report of the Norwegian Royal Commission, which shows that drug users have rights and that the development of drug policy is informed by moral panic, has been ignored by politicians, and we act thus to get the political process back on track.

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Our press release has more to say, and human rights defenders can learn a lot from the case as it develops at Mikalsen’s blog. Mikalsen has gone through the legal process before, and time will tell if there will be a revolution in drug policy. As it stands, after 50 years of stigmatising drug users, the Norwegian society understands that this is wrong and counterproductive. However, like other nations, to keep the paradigm of prohibition alive, the Norwegian society still demonises the drug dealer. To succeed in this denigration, the law of supply and demand is twisted into one of victim and oppressor, and AROD is now focusing on this blind spot by challenging the law.

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The more the people who follow this case, the more the likelihood that the Norwegian government will abide by its human rights obligations. As of today, more and more constitutional courts (Alaska, Georgia, Mexico, and South Africa) are invalidating the drug law, and globally, the need to include the human rights paradigm is becoming obvious.

Prohibitionists, on their part, claim that the trend towards legalising drugs breaches the obligations to the UN drug control conventions. They have presented no good reasons for this claim, but as the dissonance between the drug conventions and human rights conventions is drawing more attention, the time has come for a full review of the issue.

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To settle the score, AROD has presented a report together with five questions that must be answered to the satisfaction of an independent, impartial and competent commission. This report, Human Rising (2018), can be found at our reading room and it details how unconsciousness and power politics have defined the evolution of drug policy. World leaders have been slow to respond, but the Norwegian state will have another chance in the aftermath of 11 September, 2021. The AROD will use Human Rising and To Right a Wrong as our procedural argument against drug prohibition, and at the heart of the matter is the challenge to answer our five questions. These questions can be found below, and concerned citizens can help them get the attention they deserve.