Demand Drug Policy Reform

From April 19-21, 2016, a United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) dedicated to reviewing progress on ending “the World Drug Problem” is being held in New York. At the last UNGASS on Drugs, held in 1998, global leaders pledged to secure “a drug-free world”— an unrealistic goal that gave rise to four decades of failed global drug prohibition, wasting trillions of US dollars and inflicting untold human suffering along the way.

The 2016 UNGASS debate presents a vital opportunity to highlight the failures of current international drugs framework, give voice to those suffering from it, and shift the drug policy conversation.

Through the Stop the Harm campaign, we demand that the United Nations and its member states acknowledge the damage wrought by the current drug control regime and to live up to their professed values by formally incorporating human rights, public health, sustainable development, and harm reduction principles firmly into drug policy across the globe.