The overdose crisis doesn’t just shatter our families, it fractures our communities.

The losses go deeper than one person, one family or one neighborhood. They ripple out into classrooms, workplaces and the spaces we all share. They cross borders between cities, states and nations.

But in a time when people are searching for connection and safety, overdose also reminds us that our lives are deeply intertwined.

We often instinctively protect our own – our children, our parents, our siblings. We believe in second chances for our loved ones but struggle to extend that same compassion to others. But what if we saw each other as one big family, bound not just by blood, but by shared experiences, responsibility and commitment to each other?

This International Overdose Awareness Day let’s imagine a new meaning of what family can be. A family driven by hope, love and action. We are one big family – not just because we share in the pain of loss, but because we share in the power to change what comes next.

This August 31, we move beyond awareness. We organize, we show up, and we take action. Because no one should carry this grief alone. Every story shared, every voice raised and every step we take brings us closer to a future free from overdose.

International Overdose Awareness Day 2025

In 2025, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) will continue its annual thematic discussions as part of a multi-year workplan (2024–2028) to assess and implement international drug policy commitments. These discussions aim to address key challenges identified in the 2019 Ministerial Declaration and prepare the ground for a comprehensive stock-taking in 2028.

The 2025 discussions will focus on urgent global issues, with dedicated sessions for cross-cutting topics and “Other substantive matters” that Member States wish to raise. 

Each session will begin with a presentation by UNODC’s Research and Analysis Branch and feature a moderated panel of experts from Member States, international and regional organisations, UN entities, and civil society. Interactive discussions will follow, allowing for broad participation and the sharing of national experiences and concerns.

Thematic discussions on challenges identified in the 2019 Ministerial Declaration

Drug treatment and health services continue to fall short of meeting needs, and drug-related deaths have increased.

Rates of HIV, hepatitis C, and other blood-borne diseases associated with drug use (including injecting drug use) remain high in some countries.

The adverse health consequences and risks associated with new psychoactive substances have reached alarming levels.

The availability of internationally controlled substances for medical and scientific purposes, including for pain relief and palliative care, remains low to non-existent in many parts of the world.

CND Intersessional meeting - Thematic discussions on the implementation of all international drug policy commitments following up to the 2019 Ministerial Declaration (Autumn 2025)

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.

23rd International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA)

 Vienna International Centre (C-Building, Boardroom D).

This year, the reconvened sessions of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) and the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) will take place jointly. 

The Reconvened 68th CND and the 34th CCPCJ Reconvened Session will be held on 4–5 December 2025, at the Vienna International Centre (C-Building, Boardroom D).

CND 68th Session Reconvened

“Accelerating crime prevention, criminal justice and the rule of law: protecting people and planet and achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the digital age.”

The Fifteenth Crime Congress will be held from 25 to 30 April 2026 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates under the overall theme “Accelerating crime prevention, criminal justice and the rule of law: protecting people and planet and achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the digital age”, in line with the General Assembly resolution 

High-level segment (Heads of State, Ministers, etc.)

Single declaration, later reviewed by the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice

Regional preparatory meetings starting in 2025

Emphasis on participation of least developed countries, civil society, academia, and NGOs

Encourages early preparation by Member States and creation of national preparatory committees

Events