This one-day conference will offer a national and international perspective exploring the trajectories, experiences and impact of substance use among our ageing population.

The Substance Use and Associated Behaviours (SUAB) research centre at Manchester Metropolitan University is delighted to present the SUAB 2020 International Conference 

Older Adults’ Substance Use: An International Perspective

This one-day conference will offer a national and international perspective exploring the trajectories, experiences and impact of substance use among our ageing population. Chaired by Prof Sarah Galvani, with invited speakers:

Dr Beate Peter and Dr Lisa Williams, England

This one-day conference will take place on 

April 1st, 2020, from 9am, at Innside Hotel Manchester.

 Lunch and refreshments will be provided.

SUAB Annual International Conference 2020: Older adult's substance use: An international perspective

In the face of mass quarantines and global uncertainty where is the space for sustaining and motivating campaigning for drug policy reform?

We have decided to set up our activist training online and will adapt our approach to include the use of creative social media.

This gives us a wonderful opportunity to bring you some live links with global campaigners and join from any part of the world.

We haven't finalised the details but expect topics to include:

the power of telling our stories in a policy context

how to engage politicians – pressure points, who holds power, etc.

the difference between activism and advocacy, and when to use each.

how to engage the media including writing opinion pieces, getting quoted, etc

Online drug policy activism training - Recovering Justice

The 7th Annual Service User Conference will take place Thursday 26th March in the City Hotel, Derry. Registration on the day will be from 10am-11am. The event is free and this year we take on Harm Reduction in our Communities.

7th Annual Service User Conference - RSUN

In the interests of keeping everyone safe and well the DDN Conference has been postponed until June.

We consulted widely about this and were confident for a while of going ahead, but the escalation of recent events has also brought forward the likelihood of restrictions. We no longer feel able to promise the packed programme and wonderful day of networking we had envisaged.

We will be announcing our new date in June very shortly and look forward to an absolutely amazing day at The Glee Club in Birmingham!

DDN Conference 2020 [POSTPONED]

The dates for the Sixty-third session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, Vienna are: 2 - 6 March 2020.

Information for participants is now available here, on the official site of the Session. The VNGOC has also drafted a Guide for NGOs participating in the CND, available here.

The CND Blog will also provide near real-time updates on the plenary session and selected side events. You can also follow IDPC twitter which will provide live updates on key events, or follow the hashtags #CND2020 / #CND63.

IDPC produces a targeted daily update about the meeting, providing updates on the state of resolutions, upcoming agenda items and side events of particular interest. To receive it, message Daisy Bowdery with your name and organisational affiliation.

The CND 63: Key issues and opportunities webinar series sheds light on the key issues that are likely to structure the debates, tabled resolutions and opportunities for engagement, and showcases the experience of IDPC network members in navigating and leveraging this forum for political advocacy. This multilingual webinar series is available in English, Spanish and French.

A video introduction to the Commission's functioning and mechanisms of engagement is also available.

IDPC member organisations are involved in over 30 side events. Check them out here.

The IDPC Secretariat co-organises a series of side events at the 63rd CND session:

Health responses to the opioid poisoning crisis: On-the-ground experiences and international implications: 14:10-15:00 | MOE100 | Canada, CAPUD, CDPC, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, CDPE, IDPC.

Implementing the UN Bangkok Rules: Women and drug policies: 8:00-8:50 | M6 |Canada, CELS, IDPC, OHCHR, PRI, WOLA, WHRIN.

Communities at the centre: Barriers and opportunities for community led interventions: 9:10-10:00 | M3 | Switzerland, IDPC, INPUD, UNAIDS, OHCHR, UNODC HIV/AIDS Section

Human Rights Compliant and Gender Sensitive Criminal Justice Responses to Drug Problem: Way Forward -Kyoto Crime Congress 2020: 13:00-13:50 | M3 | Mexico, Norway, Switzerland, EU, IDPC, UNAIDS, OHCHR, HRDP, UNDP, WHO.

Social norms and rituals, individual and collective self-regulation strategies in cannabis use- What research and alternative practices can tell to cannabis policy reform: 8:00-8:50 | MOE79 | Associazione la Società della Ragione ONLUS, Associazione Luca Coscioni, Forum Droghe Associazione Movimento per il Contenimento dei Danni, ICEERS, IDPC, Science for Democracy, TNI.

Next steps for data collection on drugs: Experiences from UN agencies: 9:10-10:00 | Press Room | Mexico, Switzerland, CELS, EU, GDPO, IDPC, OHCHR, UNAIDS, UNDP, WHO.

Forced treatment, people who use drugs and the right to health: Empirical evidence from Asia and Latin America: 13:00-13:50 | MOE100 | Equis Justicia Para Las Mujeres, IDPC, OHCHR.

Good practices in cross-sectoral cooperation: Civil society involvement in policymaking in Europe: 14:00-14:50 | MOE79 | Finland, Spain, CSF, Correlation – EHRN, EU, FHN, IDPC, RRF, YODA.

East African Community Regional Policy on Prevention, Management and Control of Alcohol, Drugs and other Substances: 8:00-8:50 | Press Room | ANPUD, EAC, IDPC, KANCO, MdM (France).

Drug Crypto Markets Beyond 2020: Policy, Enforcement, Harm, and Resilience: 9:10-10:00 | M6 | the Netherlands, ABD (Energy Control), GDPO, IDPC.

A series of informal dialogues between high-level UN representatives and civil society are scheduled to take place as follows:

Director of the WHO Department of Mental Health and Substance Use

The Vienna NGO Committee will hold its first Annual General Assembly on Wednesday, at 16:00, in Room BR-D, Building C, 4th floor. The AGM will also see Board elections take place.

The VNGOC also organises 'Finding Common Ground: A Civil Society Conversation on Prevention' (Thursday, 15:00, BR-D, Building C, 4th floor).

For more on the VNGOC, please visit their website dedicated to the CND.

Within the framework of the Global Partnership on Drug Policies and Development (GPDPD), the CND App has been developed to facilitate navigating and engaging with the debates at the CND. This mobile application will help you track live what is happening, and where, at the CND, receive notifications on key events, resolutions and speakers, and access UN-agreed language on specific drug policy issues. For an optimal experience, please download the app from the Apple or Android store. Alternatively, you can access the app's functionalities with your browser at http://cndapp.org/.

63rd Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND)

Pre-session consultations for the 63rd Session of CND are expected to take place on 28 February 2020 (Board room D, Vienna International Centre).

CND 63rd session - Pre-session consultations

This webinar is part of a multilingual series, available in Spanish and French here.

Monday, 24 February 2020 (16:30 - 17:00 | London time)

 on the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) focuses on its 63rd Session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), which will take place in Vienna from 2-6 March 2020.

The webinar series will shed light on the key issues that are likely to structure the debates, discuss tabled resolutions and opportunities for engagement, and showcase the experience of IDPC network members in navigating and leveraging this forum for political advocacy.

A separate video introduction to the Commission's functioning and mechanisms of engagement is also available.

 (Students for Sensible Drug Policy - SSDP).

CND 63: Key issues and opportunities

"The 1st Regional Conference on Hepatitis Care in Substance Users: INHSU Africa 2020 is intended to address a pressing need to further advance and facilitate knowledge exchange to catalyze enhanced hepatitis care for people who use drugs in other areas of the world, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

The goal will be to bring together people to cover the latest advances on the epidemiology, public health, prevention, clinical management, and policy related to hepatitis C and health care for people who use drugs, with a specific focus on Sub-Saharan Africa."

The committee are excited to invite you to the inaugural INHSU Africa 2020. We encourage you to register now as places are strictly limited and will fill up quickly!

In order to access the complimentary registration please enter the discount code INAF20COMP.

Low and middle income countries and supporting partners are automatically eligible for complimentary registration.

Registration Deadline: Sunday 16 February 2020

1st Regional Conference on Hepatitis Care in Substance Users (INHSU Africa)

1st CND Intersessional Meeting

In 2017, the opioid-related overdose crisis killed more than 47,000 people in the United States. Methadone is the best studied and most effective treatment for opioid addiction and is proven to reduce opioid overdose deaths by more than 50 percent. So why is it easier to get heroin than methadone?

Liquid Handcuffs: A Documentary to Free Methadone, co-directed by Helen Redmond and Marilena Marchetti, shines a spotlight on the closed world of methadone clinics. An international cast of methadone users, activists, and healthcare providers explain the benefits and the barriers to getting the medication.

The documentary, filmed in six countries—Afghanistan, Britain, India, Portugal, Russia, and the United States—explores the intersection of methadone with race, class, social control, and stigma. This is the first feature-length documentary that uses the lens of harm reduction to examine the methadone clinic system.

Film screening and Q&A — Liquid handcuffs: A documentary to free methadone

As part of the LAC Main Seminar Series, Thomas Grisaffi, Marie Nougier and Jonas von Hoffmann will participate in a roundtable discussion on drug policy in Latin America on 24th January.

is a lecturer in the Department of Geography and Environmental Science. Trained as an anthropologist, Thomas works on topics including coca and cocaine production and its global commodity chain, indigenous social movements in the Andes, alternative development in drug crop-producing zones and democracy. His book with Duke University Press, titled ‘Coca Yes, Cocaine No’ (2019), is an ethnography of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), as it transformed from an agricultural union, criminalised as a result of U.S.-led drug war policies, into Bolivia’s ruling party. Prior to coming to the University of Reading, Thomas held a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellowship at University College London, was a fellow of the Drugs, Security and Democracy Program (SSRC/Open Society Foundations) and taught at the London School of Economics.

 is responsible for the communications and publications workstream of the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC). She engages in networking, civil society capacity building activities, and policy advocacy engagement, in particular at the Commission on Narcotic Drugs. Marie is also supporting IDPC’s activities in Latin America, where she helps coordinate a project to reduce the incarceration rate of women for drug offences. Marie is also a member of the Core Group of the EU Civil Society Forum on Drugs. Marie has a Masters’ Degree in international law, human rights and the law of armed conflicts. Before working at IDPC, she worked on issues related to compulsory drug detention in South East Asia at the World Health Organisation, as well as immigration, racism and police brutality in Western Europe at Amnesty International.

 is a doctoral student at Exeter College. His research interests include drug policy, policy reform, legislative politics, social movements, political and criminal violence, drug trafficking and Latin America. His thesis examines the variation of recent cannabis policy reforms in Latin America. Why and how do cannabis reforms occur and what accounts for differences across the region? Why has Uruguay legally regulated cannabis from seed to smoke, Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled in favour of autocultivo and Chile’s President allowed medicinal uses of cannabis by decree? To answer these questions, I conduct a comparative analysis of the reform process in Uruguay, Mexico and Chile, using elite interviews, discourse analysis and process tracing.

Roundtable: Current debates on drug policy in Latin America

: Vienna International Centre. Boardroom C, 4th floor, C-Building.


: Thursday, 12 December and Friday, 13 December - 10:00 - 15:00.

All organisations in consultative status with ECOSOC are invited to send observers. Please note that official CND rules will apply. Organisations wishing to attend need to send an official letter to unodc-sgb@un.org signed by the head of the organization with the names and email address of the participants (maximum 10 participants per NGO) as well as the CND registration form. Kindly register as soon as possible but no later than 6 December 2019.

Two joint meetings of the CCPCJ and the CND will be held on 12 December, and one separate meeting of CND will be held on 13 December. The annotated provisional agenda and proposed organization of work can be found on the CND website.

Special Event: “Working Effectively Within the CoNGO Committees: Present and Future”

The Conference of NGOs (CoNGO) is holding a special event on Wednesday, 11 December, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the Vienna International Centre (VIC), Room C0213 where NGO committees active in Vienna will present their work and CoNGO president, Mr. Levi Baustista will hold an interactive dialogue. VNGOC Chair, Jamie Bridge, will present the work of the VNGOC Committee. Guests without a VIC ground pass are kindly asked to register no later than 5 December by sending an email to congoevent@outlook.com.

Informal briefing on the Kyoto Crime Congress

The NGO Alliance on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice will be holding an informal meeting on Wednesday, 11 December in Room E1175 of the Vienna International Center, from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. As part of the meeting Ms. Jo Dedeyne-Amann, the Chief of the Secretariat to the Governing Bodies, will present the newest information on the Kyoto Crime Congress.

Side Event “A Framework for Multilateralism – The Pathways to and from the International Drug Control Regime”

The permanent mission of Singapore to the United Nations Vienna is holding a lunchtime panel discussion in the margins of the reconvened session of the 62nd CND on 12 December, 1.15 p.m. to 2.45 p.m. in Conference Room II on the 7th floor of the C Building, Vienna International Centre. The event market the 110th anniversary of the 1909 Shanghai Opium Commission, which led to the 1912 International Opium Convention - the first international legally-binding treaty on drug control - and subsequently formed the basis of the three international drug control conventions underpinning the existing international drug control regime. The side event is also on the eve of the 55th anniversary entry into force of the 1961 Single Convention on 13 December 1964. VNGOC Chair, Jamie Bridge will be one of the panelists.

IMCPC reception “Understanding WHO’s Recommendations on Cannabis”

The International Medical Cannabis Patients Organization (IMCPC) is holding an informational and networking reception on 12 December at 5 p.m. in Corridor 04 of the Vienna International Centre. Speakers at the event will discuss the World Health Organization’s recommendation to reclassify cannabis and the impact of the rescheduling on medical cannabis patients worldwide if it is adopted by the CND and the United Nations as a whole. PLEASE RSVP HERE: http://bit.ly/62ndCNDEvent

The board of the Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs is inviting all members and interested NGOs to participate in an informal membership meeting on Friday, 13 December form 1 p.m to 3 p.m at the Vienna International Centre, Room C0237. The meeting will serve to discuss current issues and exchange updates and information. No formal decisions will be made by the committee. A draft agenda will be shared as soon as possible. For those of you who can not attend in person there will also be the possibility to participate online. We will again be using the UN online conference system. If you want to attend online please send a short email to info@vngoc.org containing your name and your organisations name. We will share the sign-up link for the conference system a couple of days before the meeting.

Past Events