IDPC

UN level engagement

The CND Independent Expert Panel on drugs

The CND Independent Expert Panel on drugs

Inner courtyard of the UN headquarters in Vienna, which hosts CND sessions.

UNIS Vienna - CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

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In March 2025, the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) adopted resolution 68/6 to create a 'multidisciplinary panel of 19 independent experts' to review 'the existing machinery for the international control of narcotic drugs' and provide recommendations for reform in view of the global drug policy review to take place under the auspices of the CND in 2029. One year later, in March 2026, the panel's composition was confirmed.

The panel’s review represents a historic opportunity to propose meaningful reforms that advance human rights, social inclusion, social justice, and the health and welfare of humankind. It is a process that IDPC will follow closely over the coming months, and is producing a series of advocacy notes to support the panel’s work.

This page provides easy access to the latest news and resources related to the work of the independent expert panel and to support related advocacy efforts, including on opportunities to interact with the panel during their consultations.

‘Each Colombian understands and feels that the global drug problem casts a shadow over all of us. And this panel is an invitation, under the aegis of the conventions, to rethink, to revisit the principle of common and shared responsibility today, now’.
Laura Gil Savastano - Permanent Representative of Colombia to the UN in Vienna (March 2025)