The 18th annual ISSDP conference 11-13 June 2025, hosted by the Drugs, Policy, and Social Change (DPSC) research group at Manchester Metropolitan University, envisions a transformative dialogue on drug policy grounded in social justice. Our aim is to foster an inclusive platform where diverse voices from affected communities, practitioners, and policymakers converge to explore and address the complexities of drug policy processes and formation.

Social justice is important in drug policy to ensure that policies are fair, equitable, and inclusive, addressing the needs of all individuals, especially marginalised and vulnerable populations. Drug policy consistently shows that the most marginalised are disproportionately impacted and that many new reforms either exacerbate gaps or fail to reduce these gaps. Novel ways of thinking about how to improve social justice in drug policy is thus a key focus for this conference.

With ISSDP’s primary focus on connecting and facilitating world-leading drug policy research, the conference will also highlight novel methodological approaches to analysing drug policy and a broad range of scholarship across the drug market, incorporating use, supply, cultivation/production and trafficking as well as other sub-themes (see below).

The conference invites contributions from scholars from the Global North and the Global South. By doing so, it aims to promote a comprehensive understanding of drug policy issues worldwide and identifying ways to advance drug policy and practice.

18th Annual Conference of the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy (ISSDP)

For almost 40 years, the Drug Consumption Rooms (DCRs) have been providing effective solutions in terms of harm reduction, human rights and public health.

Local actors, elected representatives and citizens make the opening of new DCRs worldwide possible through their commitment. Despite the many positive evaluations, the subject remains sensitive in the public debate.

This is why the City of Strasbourg, the Council of Europe's Pompidou Group and the Ithaque association are pleased to invite you to the fourth international symposium on drug consumption rooms, to be held on 18 and 19 June 2025 in the Hemicycle of the Council of Europe.

This conference continues the strong momentum started in 2019, bringing together more than 30 countries and 50 different cities at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. Its aim is to promote the model of DCRs and to harmonize international policies around human rights and harm reduction. It offers the opportunity to share the diversity of experiences, the different legal frameworks and, their evolutions, and to put innovative practices into perspective.

Institutional actors and associations in the field, peoples who use drugs, local, national and international political leaders are all invited to attend and will be able to take the floor.

DCRs Symposium 2025: Drug consumption rooms, a pillar of harm reduction and human rights

In 2025, the European Union will adopt a new EU Drug Strategy that will define the political direction and priorities for the period 2026–2030.

While the current strategy (2021–2025) recognises the pillars of drug supply reduction, demand reduction, and harm reduction, its implementation has remained disproportionately focused on law enforcement and punitive measures.

This imbalance has not led to improved public safety—instead, it has worsened health outcomes, increased stigma, and deepened the marginalisation of people who use drugs.

Access to essential health and harm reduction services continues to be limited, particularly for vulnerable and underserved communities.

As the next EU Drug Strategy is being shaped, we face a critical opportunity to advocate for a more balanced, health-centred, and human rights-based approach to drug policy.

To seize this momentum, leading European drug policy networks — including C-EHRN, EHRA, IDPC, and HFHR — have launched the European Drug Policy Campaign.

This initiative is supported by the European Drug Policy Alliance, a coalition of civil society and harm reduction experts working to influence the content and implementation of the new strategy.

The campaign will be presented during a webinar on 26 June, the Support, Don't Punish Global Day of Action, bringing together policymakers, civil society representatives, and European drug policy experts to foster dialogue and build momentum for drug policy reform in the EU.

This webinar will feature diverse perspectives from key stakeholders and serve as a platform to mobilise support for a more just, inclusive, and effective EU Drug Strategy.

EU drug policy campaign 2025: A call to invest in a European health-based drug policy-

Reclaim power. Resist injustice. Reform drug laws.

The Support. Don’t Punish campaign is a lifeline for democratic 

. For over a decade, we have organised a powerful and decentralised movement that centres communities challenging punitive drug policies and advocating for harm reduction.

On 26 June 2025, we invite you to join us once more in collective action to build sustainable alternatives to the ‘war on drugs’.

Our journey started back in 2013 and has developed from mobilisation in a couple of dozen cities to a vibrant ecosystem that last year sparked change in 

 worldwide! From community dialogues, to public demonstrations, artistic expressions, and policy discussions, 

our voices thunder through streets, radio shows and parliaments alike!

— bringing us together to oppose stigma and injustice, while fostering change in laws, policies and practices that undermine our communities’ wellbeing.

Are you ready for 2025? Now is the time to prepare! 

Our habitual ‘Call for Expressions of Interest’ will open in March, offering opportunities to receive financial and practical support for your activities. As you develop your reasoning, remember that 

This year is atypical as the US foreign aid freeze poses significant challenges to the harm reduction movement. As we navigate pain and uncertainty, we invite you to be 

and, more than ever, reach out to existing 

and solidarity. The anti-rights movement may want us diminished, but history shows that 

. Whether through direct action, media campaigns, or political advocacy, we will continue to reclaim power, resist injustice and reform harmful drug laws. 

RESPOND TO THE CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST HERE

Hold on to each other. Stay tuned for updates. Start planning now! 💚

Support. Don’t Punish Global Day of Action 2025

Full-day event (exact schedule to be confirmed)


 Free for all NNEF members (Not a member yet? No problem! Membership is free)

This event is all about open discussion, learning, and collaboration, bringing together people passionate about harm reduction and improving services. Whether you’ve been involved for years or are new to the field, this is your chance to hear from expert speakers, share experiences, and shape the future of needle exchange services in the UK.

Speaker information coming soon! Stay tuned for updates on our fantastic lineup of speakers and sessions.

We can’t wait to see you there—register now to secure your place!

National Needle Exchange Forum (NNEF)

Angela McBride, Executive Director at South African Network of People Who Use Drugs

Dr. Andrew Scheibe, Technical Advisor, TB HIV Care, Researcher, University of Pretoria.

We are thrilled to invite you to INHSU 2025, which will take place in our vibrant home city of Cape Town, South Africa. It marks INHSU’s first return to South Africa since a satellite conference—INHSU Africa—was held here in 2020, just before COVID-19. It was a pivotal moment for our community, and bringing the main conference here in 2025 will be a platform for the continued strengthening of community-led networks in the region on both local and national levels. It’s also a testament to INHSU’s continued growth into a global platform that meaningfully involves people who use drugs, with an increasing focus on representatives from Africa.

13th International Conference on Health and Hepatitis in Substance Users (INSHU 2025)

Reform Drug Policy. Join us in Detroit. #Reform2025

The Reform Conference is the premier gathering of the growing and dynamic drug policy reform movement. Every other year, the 

 hosts this event, bringing together people working on the full range of drug policy issues from across the United States and around the world to listen, learn, and strategize. In 2025, the conference will take place in Detroit, Michigan from November 12-15.

We offer two scholarship programs to support the attendance of people directly impacted by the drug war and to ensure that the diversity of our movement is reflected in our Reform Conference attendees.

The scholarship funds are meant for people who are:

in need of financial assistance to attend the conference,

in a position to clearly benefit from going to the conference,

directly impacted by the drug war, and/or

already affiliated with a complimentary or allied movement, with a solid potential to take home new knowledge, skills and contacts that will benefit their local work in any and all issue areas of the drug policy reform movement.

The International Scholarships application 

 If you are based outside of the U.S. and need financial assistance to attend the Reform Conference, 

The National Scholarships applications will open after May 15th. If you are based in the U.S. and need financial assistance to attend the Reform Conference, we will have two applications available – one for individuals and one for groups planning to bring 4 or more people to the conference.

We strategized, built community, and organized around:

Decriminalizing Drugs and Building Health-Based Alternatives

Ensuring Our Systems Help, Not Hurt by Uprooting the Drug War from Our Daily Lives

Reinvesting Resources into Communities and Divesting from Punitive Police Responses

Rethinking and Reducing Punishment of People in the Drug Trade

Legalizing and Regulating Drugs the Right Way

 to see programs and videos from previous years.

International Drug Policy Reform Conference 2025

 Accra International Conference Centre(AICC)

 Catalysing Integrated Sustainable Responses to end AIDS, TB & Malaria.

Catalysing Africa’s progress towards triple elimination and sustainable resilient health systems through innovation and digital technologies.

Promote cooperation among governments, communities, the private sector, and international organizations to enhance health security and improve pandemic preparedness and response.

Strengthen capacity and facilitate knowledge exchange for healthcare professionals, researchers, and policymakers.

Empower communities and promote human rights and gender equality in the context of HIV/AIDS and emerging and reemerging diseases.

Mobilize domestic resources and political commitment to sustain Africa's progress towards achieving the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets and global health security goals.

Events