IDPC Progress Report 2024-2025

Foreword

Welcome to IDPC’s Progress Report covering the period 2024 to 2025. It has been a challenging year in many respects, with a backdrop of geopolitical fracture and a serious erosion of multilateralism and UN values.

We have also witnessed sweeping funding cuts to health and development programmes across the world – a steady trend, although the US government’s actions in early 2025 to dismantle the global health and humanitarian infrastructure were undertaken with unprecedented ferocity and velocity. These cuts have left millions without access to healthcare, nutrition, education, and sanitation. Harm reduction programmes have been detrimentally impacted, as has the critical human rights advocacy that is needed now more than ever.

And yet, against this complex and often disheartening picture, the IDPC network has shown remarkable resilience in the face of adversity. We have continued to press forward — fighting for drug policies rooted in social justice and human rights, and advancing critical reforms. Over the past year, we have witnessed increasing endorsement for the decriminalisation of drug use and possession for personal use, and we have continued to make the case for responsible legal regulation of all drugs.

At the UN, despite a fractious and politically fraught environment, sustained advocacy paid off: Colombia tabled a resolution at the Commission on Narcotic Drugs that passed by vote, mandating an independent review of the UN drug control machinery. This breakthrough is the result of years of collective advocacy. We will now accompany this process closely to ensure that human rights remain at the centre, and that civil society and community voices are visible and heard throughout.

At the UN level, we are also closely following the long-overdue review of the coca leaf. Placed under international control in the 1961 Single Convention based on racist prejudices, the prohibition of the coca leaf has amounted to a direct and serious violation of Indigenous rights. This is not just another scheduling review — it is a vital test for the credibility and integrity of the international drug control regime itself. IDPC will work with our members and partners to ensure that Indigenous voices are central to this historic process.

This report details many other successes, all of which are testament to the power of solidarity — of working together as a movement and in alliance with other struggles for justice. IDPC will continue to provide the analysis that shifts narratives, empowers civil society, and challenges the status quo. We remain steadfast in our vision for a world where drug policies are grounded in dignity, equity, and human rights.

There is no doubt that we are at a political inflection point — globally and locally — where multiple crises are intersecting. It is a moment of deep political uncertainty, escalating wars, and rising political danger. In these turbulent times, our collective courage and commitment are our greatest assets. We will continue to support and defend civil society, to champion evidence-based reforms, and to strive for a world where drug policies uphold dignity, rights, and justice.

The future is not written. Nothing is inevitable. And we are not powerless. Let’s build a drug policy — and a world — that is rooted in healing, dignity, and liberation for all.

Thank you to our wonderful Board of Directors, Members Advisory Council and our valued donors. And finally, with deep and heartfelt gratitude to all our members – together we are greater than the sum of our parts, and your commitment and courage inspire us all at the Secretariat.

In solidarity,
Ann Fordham
Executive Director

Message from the Chair of the Board

North and South, drug policy reform risks being pushed aside more than ever before. Yet IDPC and all its members continue to “punch above our weight”, notably by helping to break the so-called Vienna Consensus in March 2024 — a reminder of the immense value of bold, continuous, and coordinated global advocacy.

The IDPC Secretariat and our global network work tirelessly, creatively, expertly, and persistently to push forward health- and rights-based drug policy at both national and global levels. Sadly, much of this vital work occurs behind the scenes.

Looking to 2025, our Strategic Plan (2024–2027) offers us clarity and inspiration for what is to come. We will continue to champion decriminalisation, support responsible and equitable regulation, and press for meaningful reform of the international drug control system. We will also strive to bring new resources into the movement and nurture broader public support for progressive drug policies through storytelling and media engagement.

On behalf of the entire Board of Directors, I extend our heartfelt gratitude to our wonderful donors for standing with us throughout 2024. To the Secretariat and every member of the IDPC network: thank you for your unwavering efforts. Together, we remain a powerful collective voice, advancing fairer, more humane, and evidence-based drug policies worldwide.

Tomás A. Chang Pico
Chair of the Board

Message from the Members Advisory Council

Over the past year, Lebanon has faced yet another brutal escalation in conflict, compounding already dire socio-economic and health challenges. In this context, sustaining services for people who use drugs and upholding their rights became not only more urgent, but existential.

IDPC’s unwavering support has been instrumental in helping local organisations like Skoun respond to these emergencies while continuing to advocate for systemic change. Their guidance, timely resources, and solidarity enabled us to remain connected, adaptive, and resilient.

Through mentoring our team and helping us amplify our work in high-level UN forums and global policy spaces, IDPC has bridged a critical gap — ensuring that grassroots realities are represented where global decisions are made. The Support. Don’t Punish campaign continues to arm us with evidence-based frameworks and messaging that resonate locally, even amidst ongoing emergencies.

As crisis settings expand across regions and resources shrink, the role IDPC plays in facilitating essential spaces — where organisations, experts, and people with lived experience can build collective power and resilience — becomes more vital than ever. We must continue joining forces to do more with less, while maintaining a safety net for our communities and pushing for sustainable, evidence- and rights-based drug policies that leave no one behind.

Tatyana Sleiman, Skoun (Lebanon)
Representative of IDPC’s Members Advisory Council

IDPC Progress Report 2024-2025

Foreword

Message from the Chair of the Board

Message from the Members Advisory Council

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