UNGASS

Aligning Agendas

2018-02-22T21:30:54+00:00

In April 2016 the UN General Assembly convened a special session on the world drug problem in order to review and evaluate existing drug control policies and strategies. More specifically, the specia ...

What comes next?

2018-01-15T14:01:02+00:00

The 2016 UNGASS on drugs was hailed as an opportunity ‘to conduct a wide-ranging and open debate that considers all options’. Although the UNGASS process had some challenges, it was nonetheless a cri ...

Edging forward

2017-10-02T08:12:18+00:00

Diplomatic processes at the United Nations are notoriously slow and difficult, perhaps increasingly so in a modern world of multi-polar geopolitics and tensions. This is certainly no different for th ...

International cooperation against the world drug problem

2018-02-07T13:24:00+00:00

This report prepared by the UN Secretary-General for the 72nd Session of the General Assembly provides an overview of the global situation on drugs, and crucially highlights cross-UN efforts to imple ...

What comes next?

2017-03-08T18:34:09+00:00

The 2016 UNGASS on drugs was hailed as an opportunity ‘to conduct a wide-ranging and open debate that considers all options’. Although the UNGASS fell short of expectations, it was nonetheless a crit ...

What comes next?

2016-11-30T12:20:26+00:00

The UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on drugs – held in New York in April 2016 – was hailed as an opportunity for the international community ‘to conduct a wide-ranging and open debate th ...

The United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on the World Drug Problem

2016-09-01T18:09:33+00:00

In October 2012, the governments of Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico issued a joint declaration calling for a UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) to be held on the urgent issue of drug policy. ...

UNGASS 2016: A Broken or B-r-o-a-d Consensus?

2016-07-05T12:45:23+00:00

A special session of the General Assembly took place in April revealing a growing divergence in the global drug policy landscape. Difficult negotiations resulted in a disappointing outcome document, ...

The human rights 'win' at the UNGASS on drugs that no one is talking about, and how we can use it

2016-05-09T08:53:54+00:00

The April 2016 UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on the world drug problem offered a unique opportunity to re-examine the approach of punitive suppression that underpins global drug contro ...

Rethinking drug prohibition on a global scale

2016-05-03T13:18:08+00:00

Last month, the United Nations General Assembly met for the first time in history to reconsider international drug prohibition with an eye toward policies focused on health and human rights. Facing u ...

New agreement brings no end to war on drugs in ASEAN

2016-04-26T09:19:28+00:00

The outcome of the UN General Assembly Special Session on drugs in New York resulted in an outcome document that brings little new to the table. Nang Pann Ei, a coordinator of the Drug Policy Advocac ...

Rethinking the global war on drugs

2016-04-25T17:57:17+00:00

The U.S. is in the untenable position of violating the existing treaties — now that four states have legalized the sale of recreational marijuana. The Canadian government announced that it will intro ...

Mexico's president proposes legalising medical marijuana

2016-04-25T18:05:17+00:00

Following his statement at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) in which he called for more prevention, partial decriminalization and a public health approach, Mexico’s presid ...

Global Commission slams UNGASS 2016 outcome that strains the credibility of international law

2016-04-22T23:11:04+00:00

At a packed press conference in Manhattan, a formidable panel – including former presidents of Mexico, Colombia and Switzerland, a former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, a former UK deputy prime ...

Jamaica dropped the mic on 4/20 and told the UN to get its act together on weed

2016-04-26T15:15:18+00:00

On 4/20, the unofficial holiday celebrated by marijuana enthusiasts around the world, Jamaica called for the UN to review the status of cannabis, questioning why the drug is still legally considered ...

TNI at UNGASS 2016: reports from New York

2016-04-26T15:46:07+00:00

The Transnational Institute (TNI) attended the 30th session of the UN General Assembly Special Session on the world drug problem in New York from the 19-21st April 2016. The General Assembl approved ...

Cannabis and the Conventions: UNGASS and Beyond

2016-04-13T13:56:05+00:00

With an increasing number of jurisdictions enacting or contemplating reforms creating legal access to cannabis for purposes other than exclusively "medical and scientific," tensions regarding the dru ...

Colombian president: persisting with prohibitionist drug policies is 'insane'

2016-04-22T23:55:43+00:00

Colombia’s president, Juan Manuel Santos, has said it is "insane" to keep approaching the global narcotics problem with the same failed policies of the past and called on drug war hawks to understand ...

Remarks Mr. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

2016-08-11T14:03:02+00:00

"When drugs are decriminalised and health care, including harm reduction, is available, which is the case in a number of Member States, drug dependent persons are less likely to resort to criminal be ...

Russia's 'cold turkey' approach highlights global divide over drug treatment at UN

2016-04-25T18:42:05+00:00

As international leaders debated global drug law at the United Nations, a bizarre panel on heroin treatment showed just how divided countries are over how to treat addicts. The panel, sponsored by th ...