New report warns international drug policy is failing — as ‘war on drugs’ regains momentum
As the United Nations embarks on far-reaching institutional reform, a major new report from the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) delivers a stark warning: global drug control is failing. The system remains dangerously misaligned with the UN’s commitments to human rights, public health, sustainable development and multilateral cooperation — wasting billions in public funds while inflicting serious harm on some of the world’s most vulnerable communities.
The report — The UNGASS decade in review: Gaps, achievements and paths for reform— assesses progress made since the 2016 UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on drugs, widely viewed as a potential turning point in global drug policy. Drawing on UN data, new academic research, and the lived experiences of civil society and affected communities, the report concludes that the promise of UNGASS remains largely unfulfilled, as the global drug situation grows more complex, volatile and deadly.
Drug policy has become a stress test for multilateralism — and the results are deeply concerning. Across the UN, severe funding constraints and system-wide restructuring are enmeshed in a rapidly deteriorating geopolitical context. Civic space is shrinking worldwide, while ‘war on drugs’ rhetoric — a throwback to the 1970s and 1980s — is regaining prominence and increasingly used to justify militarisation, repression and violations of international law. In recent months, this has included the Trump administration weaponising ‘narco-terrorism’ narratives to legitimise extraterritorial force and roll back rights, health and development commitments enshrined in the UNGASS Outcome Document.
Former President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos, who called for the 2016 UNGASS and authored the report’s foreword, warns that punitive strategies have repeatedly failed to deliver security or justice:
“Criminalisation and militarised strategies have utterly failed. They displace harms, enrich criminal networks, devastate communities and ecosystems, and undermine our hope for peace. This report exposes how far we still have to go — and why it is time to overhaul the way the world approaches drugs — putting lives, communities, and human rights at the centre.”
Despite important normative advances and real-world reforms in a growing number of countries, the report finds that punitive and prohibitionist approaches continue to dominate global drug control, at enormous human and financial cost. Far from curbing drug markets, these policies have contributed to their staggering expansion and diversification, while the number of people who use drugs is estimated at 316 million worldwide - a 28% increase since 2016. Beyond their failure to affect the drug trade, repressive policies drive devastating and preventable harms:
- 2.6 million drug use–related deaths between 2016 and 2021, with projections indicating further sharp increases since.
- One in five people globally incarcerated for a drug offence, fuelling mass incarceration and disproportionately affecting marginalised communities
- Over 150 countries reporting inadequate access to opioid pain relief due to overly restrictive controls on essential medicines
- The expanding use of the death penalty for drug offences, resulting in hundreds of confirmed executions, with many more hidden from official public records.
- The displacement of illegal drug activities into remote and environmentally fragile regions, including Central America and the Amazon basin, as a result of interdiction and eradication efforts.
Ann Fordham, Executive Director of the International Drug Policy Consortium, said the findings emphasise the urgency of reform at a critical moment for the United Nations:
“At a time when multilateralism itself is under strain, drug policy stands out as one of the UN’s most glaring failures. Punitive approaches are costing lives, undermining human rights and wasting public resources, while silencing the very communities that hold the solutions. This report shows why governments must move beyond rhetoric and commit to real structural reform.”
The report is published as the United Nations prepares to implement system-wide reforms and an independent expert panel begins reviewing the international drug control regime — a rare opportunity to correct course. IDPC calls on Member States to demonstrate political leadership and embrace genuine modernisation. This includes modernising outdated UN drug control treaties, reconfiguring institutional mandates, and aligning drug policy with human rights, evidence, health and sustainable development — while ensuring meaningful civil society engagement.
Without such vision and resolve, the report concludes, the global drug control regime will continue to undermine the very principles the United Nations was created to uphold: peace and security, human rights and development.
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Notes to editors:
About the report: The UNGASS decade in review: Gaps, achievements and paths for reform assesses global drug policy developments over the past decade, drawing on UN datasets, peer-reviewed research, civil society surveys and testimonies from affected communities worldwide. Available from 3 February 2026: https://idpc.net/publications/2016/02/the-ungass-decade-in-review-gaps-achievements-and-paths-for-reform. For an embargoed copy, contact jfernandez[@]idpc.net.
About IDPC: The International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) is a global network of more than 200 civil society organisations advocating for drug policies grounded in human rights, social justice and evidence: www.idpc.net/about
Independent expert review: In March 2025, the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs adopted Resolution 68/6 establishing an independent panel of experts to review the UN drug control system — the first such review in decades. Background information: https://idpc.net/blog/2025/03/cnd68-historic-vote-initiates-overdue-review-of-un-drug-control-machinery
Media contact:
Juan Fernández Ochoa
Campaigns and Communications Manager, IDPC
jfernandez[@]idpc.net.