→ International Law & United Nations 101 (45 min.)

• International Law
• Self-executing treaties
• Inter-governmental organisations
• The United Nations family
• How the UN is organised
• Not all IGO is UN
• UN drug control agencies
• The International Narcotics Control Board
• UN health agency: WHO
• Other UN agencies concerned with plants and people using them

→ International Cannabis Law – advanced (1h)

• Analysis of the legal regime for cannabis contained in the drug control instruments (1961 Single Convention, 1971 Convention, 1988 UN Convention).

→ Anti-prohibitionist activism at the UN, 1998–2024 (1h30)

• Before 1998: first grassroots cannabis opposition to drug treaties (1964, 1990) and lead-up to UNGASS 1998 (1987, 1988, 1990)
• UNGASS 1998
• Early 2000s: Changes in UN drug control apparatus & birth of civil society movements
• 2008 and the one year delay
• 2009: a new recycled 10-year anti-drug plan
• 2012 to 2016: of Cages & Kaffeeschnüffler

→ People, Plants, and Intellectual Property (IP): a short History (1h)

• Basic terms & definitions (based on two WIPO documents)

• Introduction to the history of treaties on “genetic resources”

• Plants and plant’s reproductive materials = seeds & cuts & genomic information

• History of treaties in the field (videos by Geoff Tansey & Guy Kasler)

• Basic types of classic IP (patents, trademarks, trade secrets, copyright) and new forms/issues (plant variety protection rights, DSI)

• What is Biopiracy? The value of GR & TKs: Immaterial assets & specific modalities of access; What is bioprospecting; When bioprospecting turn into Biopiracy.

→ Current International Law landscape of IP Privileges on Legacy & Craft Cannabis (1h15)

• Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) & Nagoya Protocol
• FAO’s Plant Treaty/Seed Treaty (International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture – ITPGRFA)
• World Trade Organisation/TRIPs Agreement
• Introduction to World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) [the UNODC of IP]
• UPOV [the INCB of seeds / sometimes called Monsanto treaty] and Breeders’ Privileges (Plant Variety Protection Rights)
• Digital Sequence Information (Int’l law on GRs II)
• Other: Patents, Human Rights, CITES

→ Aotearoa Case Study (1h – By Jenna-Rose Astwood, Tū Wairua project)

• Concern w/ biopiracy: Protection of TK & TK holders/practitionners

• Appropriation

• Protection of biological heritage

• Lack of protective mechanisms

• A discussion on the use of term “GR”.

→ GRATK Treaty, the IGC and its treaty-making work (45 min.)

→ Conclusion: Cannabis, TK, GR, and us – open discussion (cancelled)