Historic change is underway for rethinking global drug policy

his year’s 68th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs opened a door for a conversation that could get the world to rethink how to deal with drugs.

Member states passed a resolution on March 14, 2025, calling for an independent panel to review the implementation of the international drug-control treaties. Notably, the voting displayed unity between global North and global South countries, with the 30 votes in favor of the resolution aligning several European, Latin American and African nations, as well as Japan and South Korea.

This vote presents a historic opportunity for reform — as well as for UN Secretary-General António Guterres to cement his legacy as a leader in public health.

I have spent the past three decades championing a nonpunitive, evidence-based approach to drug policy. In the last several meetings of the Vienna-based Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), we have witnessed a shift in thinking, bolstered by the decision to stop requiring all resolutions to be reached by consensus (dubbed the “Vienna spirit”).

Eighteen countries abstained from voting on the resolution, with just three voting against it: Russia, Argentina and the United States.