The Trump administration’s slashing of foreign aid is already having a devastating impact on harm reduction and HIV services around the world. But the harmful effects extend far beyond that. Drugreporter interviewed key experts at the annual UN drugs meeting, the CND in Vienna, to provide a clear picture of the real impacts.

This side event at the 68th CND explored the growing body of evidence highlighting the shortcomings of current drug policies to achieve their stated goals of safety, security, public health and ending stigma, while contributing to significant human rights violations. Organised by Norwegian Association for Humane Drug Policy.

Each year, the UNODC reports an estimated half a million drug-related deaths – deaths that could be prevented with well-funded harm reduction services and an enabling political and legislative environment that provides care and support for people who use drugs, instead of punishment. This side event was organised by the International Drug Policy Consortium.

The UN drug treaties prohibited the use of coca leaf but Andean people are now promoting its re-legalisation. We asked Cesar Aguilar Alcedo, a member of the Bolivian delegation at the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, to explain why.

In this interview, filmed at the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, we discussed current developments of cannabis policy reform in Europe with Tom Blickman from the Transnational Institute.

In this interview, filmed at the 67th Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna this year, we asked Arild Knutsen, the head of the Association for Humane Drug Policy (FHN) about drug policy reform developments in Norway.

You have likely heard of a new group of synthetic substances, Nitazines, increasingly sold on illicit drug markets in North America and in Europe. We interviewed Shayla Schlossenberg, Drug Service Coordinator at Release, a UK-based drug policy and human rights NGO.

The side event examined prevalent legal strategies and frameworks utilized by authoritarian regimes in Central Eastern Europe and Central Asia (CEECA) to impede civil society’s role in public health improvement, protection of human rights, and the delivery of life-saving harm reduction services.

Watch the session at the 67th CND, organised by the he African Union Commission with the support of the UNODC Civil Society Unit, the Africa Civil Society Forum on Drugs, the European Union Civil Society Forum on Drugs, the POS Foundation, the Slum Child Foundation and the Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs.

The CND was historic this year. A ground-breaking change occurred at the highest level of international drug policy, and it will have far-reaching consequences globally. An article by Arild Knutsen, leader of the Association for Humane Drug Policy, Norway.