Dr Melissa Bone - Human Rights, Public Health & Medicinal Cannabis Use

Human rights represent a powerful, underutilized framework for examining drug policy conflict between the state and the individual. Current prohibition-based drug policies frequently prioritize state interests and a medicalized view of health over individual autonomy, often leading to restrictive outcomes that ignore medical evidence and social factors. Such approaches can ignore therapeutic applications of substances and negate individual needs for self-determination. Legal precedents like R v. Quayle demonstrate the judiciarys tendency to rely on narrow, prohibitionist justifications while rejecting medical necessity defenses. Conversely, broader interpretations of health that acknowledge social, mental, and physical well-being offer a path toward more balanced, evidence-based policy. Expanding access to medicinal cannabis and alternative delivery systems could improve health outcomes and align better with human rights principles.