The General Assembly,
Recognizing that addiction is an insidious disease that can affect not only those who suffer from it, but their friends, family, and anyone else around them, with untold amounts of public expenditure being wasted due to the impacts of addiction on societal systems and inappropriate, punitive responses to it,
Believing that it is appropriate for the international community to intervene in cases where public health crises such as this run rampant across a multitude of member-nations,
Seeking to reverse the disastrous consequences of punitive actions against those suffering from a public health crisis,
Hereby enacts the following provisions into World Assembly law:
- ”Addiction” for the purposes of this resolution shall be defined as the persistent usage of a substance or repetition of behaviors by an individual, for which the rewarding effects provide a compelling incentive to repeat the activity despite such activities leading to severely detrimental impacts on their day-to-day functioning, relationships, and routines, as assessed by a relevant professional.
- All member-nations are required:
- to educate their inhabitants about addiction and how to avoid developing it. This may come in the form of informational pamphlets, television commercials, online advertisement, dissemination within educational settings, or any other form of popular method to distribute the information.
- to create rehabilitation programs for addiction of recreational or prescription drugs, gambling, and any other prominent forms of addiction with sufficient capacity to treat all people within a member-nation suffering from addiction who seek rehabilitation. These rehabilitation programs must meet or surpass standards for medical care as set forth by extant international legislation, with frequent reviews by independent auditors to ensure their effectiveness in treating addiction. There must also be frequent reviews on the faculty’s treatment of patients in order to minimize cases of abuse.
- to pursue rehabilitation or rehabilitation-oriented approaches to activities that commonly lead to addiction. Furthermore, member-nations shall not impose punitive measures such as imprisonment or fines as a means of punishing an individual for suffering from addiction.
- Participation or attempts at participation in rehabilitation programs:
- must be free for all people with addiction in member-states. They shall not be compelled to refrain from attending, and will be allowed to stay for as long as treatment is beneficial for them in their recovery from addiction.
- shall not result in the punishment of any individual. Information given to staff and personnel at rehabilitation programs regarding one’s participation in the activity which they are addicted to shall also not be used in an attempt to punish them.
- Health workers, social workers, and members of law enforcement are, within the course of their duties, required to provide accurate information on how to seek out treatment and rehabilitation programs to individuals suffering from addiction that they may encounter.
- Member-nations are encouraged to incentivize participation in rehabilitation programs where feasible via the offering of skills training and/or education opportunities.
- Treatment for addiction is encouraged to be pursued and distributed across all member-nations and the international community at large. Studies should be done into the effectiveness of these treatments, be peer-reviewed, and be distributed to all manufacturers, distributors, and other relevant healthcare personnel for the highest degree of information regarding modern addiction treatment to be administered at all times.
- Nothing in this resolution is to be construed to prevent future legislation on the management of addictive activities, nor to directly regulate individual member-nation’s policies on the actual legality of participating in addictive activities.
