Joint statement to the UN's World Drug Report - International Coalition on Drug Policy Reform & Environmental Justice

As the co-ordinator for the International Coalition on Drug Policy Reform & Environmental Justice it is a pleasure to share with you our collective statement in response to this week’s newly published UNODC 2023 World Drug Report.

The UN released a ‘special booklet’ on Drugs & Crime in the Amazon Basin.

Finally, the link between current drug policy and its impact on the environment is being considered very seriously. However, we believe the UNs position fails to address and redress the far-reaching consequences of prohibition, which will directly impact our ability to protect the Amazon as well as deliver climate justice, sustainable development and peace in the region.

As our colleague Daniella Dias from SOS Amazonia in Brazil explains, “Prohibition has established a powerful unregulated shadow infrastructure. How can we, as Environmental defenders contend with this?”

Our global coalition is composed of advocates, activists, artists and academics from both the drug policy reform movement and the environmental and climate movement.

Our aim is to connect the dots between these two areas and raise awareness on how current drug policies undermines environmental justice and efforts to prepare for and mitigate the climate emergency. We seek reforms to drug policy that centre ecological harm reduction and the responsible legal regulation of the drugs trade.