ICEERS is a philantropic, government recognized, tax-exempt, non-profit organization based in the Netherlands.

For thousands of years, indigenous and pre-industrial societies mastered special plant species, known for its psychoactive properties, through religious and ritual use, to address medical, psychological and social issues critical to social relations and survival. The importance and scope of these plant species for the human family, as tools for personal and social development, cannot be overstated. In response to the current social indigence, ICEERS works to answer the desperate cry for more dynamic and efficient solutions to public health with an integrative use of these ethnobotanicals. In the last decade, the interest and use of ayahuasca has expanded exponentially. This phenomenon has both activated the advancement of scientific research into its effects, risks and therapeutic potential, as well as serious legal, ethical and sustainability challenges.


 will be held in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, the Brazlian epicenter of ayahuasca.

On March, 1 ICEERS will launch the conference website with all the information and details about the event. To keep informed on the latest updates, please visit this page.

The call for abstracts of the II World Ayahuasca Conference is open !

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert.

II World Ayahuasca Conference - Brazil AYA2016

Despite mixed results, the UNGASS 2016 was a galvanising moment that fostered the emergence of a broader and stronger coalition for drug policy reform. This webinar will assess the achievements and shortcomings of civil society engagement with the UNGASS process, setting the basis for an interactive discussion on the implementation of the 

 and on the ways forward in the run-up to 2019.

The webinar was approximately one hour long, and will be hosted by 

 (Senior Policy and Operations Manager, IDPC), 

The webinar will take place at 14:00 London Time. Please check here for other timezones.

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert.

After UNGASS: Civil society engagement and next steps

Over 600 participants from 58 countries attended the First European conference on addictive behaviours and dependencies held in Lisbon in 2015. The conference sold out several months before the event. Selected presentations and posters are still available on the conference website at www.lisbonaddictions.eu

Following this success, the organisers have decided to launch Lisbon Addictions 2017, which will take place in the Lisboa Congress Centre (a new venue, which can accommodate up to 850 participants), from 24 to 26 October 2017.

Once again, the conference will be jointly organised by the Portuguese General Directorate for Intervention on Addictive Behaviours and Dependencies (SICAD), the journal Addiction, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and the International Society of Addiction Journal Editors (ISAJE).

Second european conference on addictive behaviours and dependencies

By School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies (University of Oxford)

More than ever, the issue of drugs and debates around drug policy have become relevant to the political debate across the globe. Leaders and civil society organisations in many countries have voiced support for a ‘regime change’ in drug control policy; in several instances, ground-breaking reforms have been introduced or are for the first time being seriously considered by national parliaments and governments. Drugs, hence, have become more than a niche territory for anti-narcotic officials and medical practitioners; they occupy an especial place in the analysis of political, social and historical phenomena and are the object of study of different disciplines. As such, they also remain substantially, 

From the use of stimulant drugs during the open-ended revolts of the ‘Arab Spring’, the establishment of harm reduction policies in Iran, to the legalisation process in Uruguay, and decriminalisation in Portugal, drug policy is living an academic momentum without precedents. The issue of drugs has gained an especial place in the domestic, transnational and international context, with trajectories that could be innovative and potentially influential on the global scenario.

The two-day symposium intends to tackle the issue of drugs through an interdisciplinary, multi-sited approach, which is also peculiar to the tradition of St Antony’s College and the Department of Politics and International Relations. The objective is to bring together scholars whose interest in drug politics, 

, and area expertise can contribute to triggering meaningful comparative debate. By focusing on several themes in two days, this would allow a comprehensive discussion of major aspects of drug policy in the Global South. One major contribution of this symposium would be to discuss the issue of drugs in those regions, which have often been left out of the drug policy debate. Apart from scholars working on Latin American drug politics, the events will include participation of scholars working on drugs in the Middle East, Africa and East Asia.

The event is open to the public and will take place in the InvestCorp Auditorium on October 26-27, 2016. Details of the programme will be circulated closer to the date of the event.

Date & venue
Wed, 26/10/2016 - 09:00 to Thu, 27/10/2016 - 17:00
The Investcorp Auditorium, St Antony's College

Speakers
Dennis Rodgers (Amsterdam), Gernot Klantsching (York), Guilia Zocatelli (SOAS), Isaac Campos (Cincinnati), James Mills (Strathclyde), James Windle (East London), Maziyar Ghiabi (Oxford), Neil Carrier (Oxford), Orkideh Behrouzan (King's College London), Pablo Seward (Stanford), Philip Robins (Oxford), Saeyoung Park (Leiden), Anais Medeiros Passos (Sciences Po).

Drugs, Politics and Society in the Global South

The Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) will host a number of thematic discussions on the implementation of the 

 of the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on the world drug problem on 10-11 October and 27-28 October 2016 in Vienna, Austria. NGOs are encouraged to work through the VNGOC to coordinate contributions, in order to ensure an inclusive, comprehensive, balanced and meaningful civil society participation. At this moment in time, the discussion will focus on concrete actions currently taken by various stakeholders at various levels to implement the UNGASS outcome document, rather than on policy prescriptions.

2-4 NGO contributions per UNGASS outcome document chapter can be accommodated. With a view to having an interactive discussion, H.E. Ambassador Pedro Moitinho, CND Facilitator on post-UNGASS 2016, has agreed to call, if possible, for statements by NGOs during the thematic discussions.

A selection of civil society statements at the Intersessional Meeting

 for CND intersessional meeting 27-28 October 2016:

- applicants fill out the application form by 20 October 2016 at 12:00 p.m. (CEST, Vienna local time)
- selection of applicants to be conducted on 20-21 October 2016
- selected speakers will be notified on 21 October 2016
- list of selected NGO speakers to be sent by the VNGOC to the CND Secretariat on 21 October 2016.
- statements and pre-recorded video messages to be shared by selected speakers by 26 October 2016 at 12:00 p.m. (CEST, Vienna local time)
- statements and pre-recorded video messages to be shared by the VNGOC with the CND Secretariat on 26 October 2016.

These meetings will be web cast on the UNODC web site (more info on this, once available). Also, there is the opportunity to submit the statements delivered and others directly related to the implementation of the UNGASS outcome document recommendations for posting on the UNODC web site. The VNGOC will coordinate the posting of the former, while others may be submitted to the CND Secretariat directly.

Fifth CND Intersessional Meeting

The World Federation for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (WFTOD) and EUROPAD will select up to 12 oral presentations to be presented during the next American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD) congress (Baltimore, Maryland, USA, October 29-November 2, 2016).

We would like to extend a cordial invitation for you to submit an oral presentation concerning the bio-psycho-social aspects of heroin addiction.

Selected oral presentations will be published as short communication in Heroin Addiction and Related Clinical Problems. Deadline for submission is May 31, 2016

Symposium of the world federation for the treatment of opioid dependence

The Human Rights and Drug Policy Workshop will be held at the Centre for Criminology at the University of Hong Kong from October 31 to November 5, 2016.

The objective of the workshop is to focus on the identification and understanding of human rights, including those that have their basis in international agreements and laws and on an evaluation and assessment of the gap between rights and practice in the implementations of drug policies in the Asia–Pacific context. It is also hoped that the workshop can be a reflection of the UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs (UNGASS) 2016 on how to adopt measures to bring drug enforcement activities and domestic law in line with human rights obligations and encourage human rights mechanisms to play a much more assertive role in drug control issues.

current drug trends, international drug control systems, and impacts in Asia–Pacific

lessons learned and best practices of drug policy in Asia

site visits in Hong Kong to harm reduction and treatment centers

Human rights and drug policy workshop in East Asia

Almost 10 years after the Mexican government first deployed federal armed forces to combat organized crime, the Mexican people have suffered as atrocities and impunity reign. Based on three years of research conducted in close cooperation with other Mexican human rights organizations, the Open Society Justice Initiative’s new report, 

Undeniable Atrocities: Confronting Crimes Against Humanity in Mexico, 

examines the devastating toll of drug-related violence in Mexico.

The report finds a reasonable basis to believe that since 2006 federal security forces and members of criminal cartels have perpetrated killings, enforced disappearances, and torture on a widespread and systematic scale—amounting to crimes against humanity—and comprehensively examines why there has been so little accountability for these crimes.

Join us for the Washington, D.C., launch of 

 on November 1. Representatives of the Open Society Justice Initiative and the Diocesan Center for Human Rights Fray Juan de Larios will discuss the report’s findings and recommendations, as well as the future prospects for accountability in Mexico.

Ina Zoon is a policy officer for Open Society Justice Initiative.

Michael Chamberlin is deputy director and representative of families of disappeared persons at Diocesan Center for Human Rights Fray Juan de Larios.

Juan Mendez is professor of human rights law in residence at the American University Washington College of Law and former UN special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment.

James L. Cavallaro is president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Rachel Neild (moderator) is senior advisor on ethnic profiling and police reform with the Open Society Justice Initiative/

This event will take place in Spanish, with simultaneous English translation. Copies of the report (in both Spanish and English) will be available. Refreshments will be provided.

Events