The ECDD is a scientific advisory body to WHO that consists of an independent group of experts in the field of drugs and medicines and drug dependence liability.

The 48th Expert Committee on Drug Dependence meeting will be held from 20-22nd October 2025. A public information session will be held on 20 October 2025. 

This meeting will consider the following substances and make recommendations for their scheduling to the CND: 

 N-pyrrolidino isotonitazene (Isotonitazepyne) and N-Desethyl etonitazene.

The WHO’s Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD) is the body responsible for conducting reviews towards the scheduling, re-scheduling or de-scheduling of psychoactive substances. The recommendations of the WHO's ECDD are voted upon by the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), typically at its March session.

This meeting marks a pivotal step in the international community’s coca review, offering the first WHO critical assessment in nearly 75 years. It could correct historical injustices, reconcile drug control with Indigenous rights, and reshape treaty schedules to permit traditional uses while maintaining controls on cocaine production.

Registration and further information will be made available in September.

48th meeting of the WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD)

Considering existing models in the United States, Uruguay, and Canada, this policy commentary highlights the need for context-specific regulatory frameworks for adult use cannabis markets that align with national objectives. Colombia, a major player both in the global cocaine trade and the regional cannabis market, faces unique challenges in its quest in regulating cannabis for adult use. This policy commentary provides insights into the Colombian cannabis context, outlining the objectives necessary for designing an effective regulated market with social equity considerations. The policy recommendations address critical enablers such as developing public health policy for cannabis use, improving urban and rural security conditions, and setting up a market transition process that foster fair competition, social equity, and environmental sustainability. The recommendations center on developing a licensing model for producers and retailers that facilitates the integration of illicit and “gray” industry participants in the newly regulated market. Beyond well-known measures (such as prohibiting access to minors, restricting advertising, setting up strict packaging and quality controls, launching educational campaigns), the policy brief emphasizes a strategic sequence in policymaking that can promote the growth of an equity-focused cannabis industry. This entails characterizing the current cannabis market, framing the launch of the transition via pilot programs that can make rapid policy adjustments, and designing a tax framework that fosters the absorption of the illegal industry. Recognizing the gradual nature of this transformative process, the article urges a shift in public discourse towards nuanced discussions about regulatory decisions and away from the social desirability of cannabis regulation.

Transitioning to legality: How to regulate the adult use cannabis market in Colombia

Legalizing cannabis impacts law enforcement strategies on drug deterrence. While cannabis possession arrests have fallen post-legalization, findings on racial disparities are mixed. No research has yet investigated cannabis legalization effects on police behavior in the form of drug seizures, or how it may influence the enforcement of other drugs. We sought to evaluate the effect of cannabis legalization on drug seizures and their related disparities by race to understand how law enforcement have adjusted to this rapidly shifting legal landscape.

Drug seizure data were collected from the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) and include state, race, and drug types from 16 states with over 95 % population coverage for 2017–2022. Treatment and control assignments were determined by whether cannabis had been legalized for adult use between 2017 and 2022. Log seizure rates and Black-white risk ratios were calculated using census data. Two-way fixed effects difference-in-differences models robust to multiple treatment periods evaluated the effect of cannabis legalization on seizure rates and Black-white risk ratios.

Our findings indicate that cannabis legalization significantly reduced overall drug seizures, particularly those involving cannabis. Of the other seizure types tested, only one non-cannabis drug seizure rate type was significant. We found a moderate yet significant decrease in the Black-white risk ratio for cannabis seizures, though all other racial disparities in seizure rates persisted after the legalization of cannabis.

Cannabis legalization was associated with reduced drug seizures overall, driven by a large reduction in cannabis seizures. There was also a significant reduction in the Black-white risk ratio for cannabis seizures, though Black individuals remained at higher risk for all drug seizure types compared to white individuals. While expected to decrease without cannabis smell to prompt seizures, non-cannabis drug seizures were unchanged except for an increase in methamphetamine seizures not involving cannabis, potentially due to shifting enforcement priorities. These results suggest that cannabis policy reform can alleviate law enforcement burdens and may improve racial disparities in drug seizures to a small extent yet highlight the continued necessity for policies addressing systemic biases in drug enforcement.


 to read the full article (restricted access).

State adult-use cannabis policy effects on law enforcement efforts to disrupt drug markets

Lawmakers in the Czech Republic have passed a bill to reform the nation’s drug laws by legalizing simple possession and home cultivation of marijuana and allowing the use of psilocybin for medical purposes.

One month after the Chamber of Deputies approved the legislation, the Senate gave it final approval on Thursday. It now heads to the desk of President Petr Pavel to be signed into law.

The drug policy reforms are part of a package of amendments to the Czechia’s criminal code that supporters say will reduce spending on low-priority offenses, lower the number of people behind bars and reduce recidivism.

“The amendment will help criminal law better distinguish between truly socially harmful behavior and cases that do not belong in criminal proceedings at all,” outgoing Justice Minister Pavel Blažek said last month, according to a translated report from broadcaster Česká Televize (CT).

With respect to cannabis, the proposal would legalize possession of up to 100 grams of marijuana at home or 25 grams in public. Cultivation of up to three plants would also be allowed, though four or five plants would be a misdemeanor and more than that would be a felony. Possession of more than 200 grams would also carry criminal penalties.

Czech Republic bill to legalize marijuana home cultivation and allow psilocybin for medical use heads to President’s desk

Gloria Lai, Regional Director of the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), contends the prescription mandate was rushed in response to high-profile cases of foreigners illegally exporting cannabis.

She warns the policy will devastate the retail sector, “With about 10,000 outlets nationwide, 90% will likely close. Some foreigners might cooperate with the doctor’s note, but Thais will simply go back to growing their own,” she told Thai PBS World.

Prasit Nunual, Secretary General of Thailand’s Cannabis Future Network, notes closures have already begun due to oversupply and falling demand. He casts doubt on the prescription model’s feasibility: “It might be no different from the required letter for a driving licence – causing inconvenience, not genuine health oversight

Thailand’s cannabis U-turn: Operators have weeks to adapt as recreational use faces ban

The European drug market is evolving rapidly as both suppliers and consumers are finding ways to adapt to geopolitical instability, globalisation and technological advances. This appears to be resulting in the availability of a more diverse range of substances, often of high potency and purity, which are posing new risks to public health. At the same time global events threaten to push Europe's response capacities to the limit, as the complexity and scale of the problem continue to grow. 

The impact of the developments we are seeing means that everyone is in some way likely to be affected by illicit drug use, the operation of the drug market and the problems associated with it. Directly, we see this in those who develop problems and need treatment or other services. Indirectly, we see it in the recruitment into criminality of vulnerable young people, the strain on health budgets, and the social costs for communities that feel unsafe or where institutions or businesses are undermined by corruption or criminal practices. We cannot avoid the fact that drug issues have an impact almost everywhere. They are manifest in and exacerbate other complex policy problems, such as homelessness, the management of psychiatric disorders and youth criminality. We are also witnessing greater levels of violence and corruption driven by the drug market in some countries. Increasingly, we are observing that almost everything with psychoactive properties can appear on the drug market, often mislabelled or in mixtures, leaving consumers potentially unaware of what they are using, increasing health risks and creating new law enforcement and regulatory challenges. 

The EUDA is committed to increasing Europe’s preparedness on illicit drugs and new psychoactive substances, supporting the European Union and its Member States through a new, interconnected service model. The European Drug Report supports this work by highlighting the latest trends and emerging threats for policymakers and practitioners in the drugs field, in order to inform their efforts and support the development of evidence-based and timely responses to new and changing drug problems.

European drug report 2025: Trends and developments

Berlin’s “premier smoking lounge” shares a street with high-end wine bars and designer clothing stores. The faceless entrance of Tribe gives nothing away about the stylish interior upstairs, where guests sink into emerald velvet couches, deep in conversation.

“Our vision from the beginning was to create something unique, that was not the typical stoner cliche,” Tribe founder Stefan Röhrl, who ran clubs in Barcelona and Ibiza before returning to Germany, told 

. “I wanted to create somewhere that my wife and I can go and feel comfortable. Where you can go after dinner for drinks, but still enjoy cannabis.”

On April 1 2024, after the government passed the 

 (Cannabis Act), Germany became one of the first European countries to introduce a form of legalization for adult use.

The law decriminalized possession of up to 25 grams of cannabis in public and 50g at home for over-18s, as well as permitting home cultivation of up to three plants and the establishment of nonprofit cannabis associations, for up to 500 members to grow it collectively.

One year on, German cannabis legalization has uncertain future

Thailand set to U-turn on recreational cannabis use

Thailand decriminalized cannabis in 2022. However, it did so without a comprehensive law regulating its sale, production or use.

Since then, tens of thousands of licensed dispensaries and retailers selling cannabis and cannabis extracts have opened across the country, particularly in tourist hot spots.

Three years later, Thailand is now planning to tighten the control of marijuana use, ensuring that cannabis is only used for medicinal purposes and not recreationally.

Under a new medical bill expected to be announced in the next few weeks, dispensaries will be allowed to sell cannabis only to other licensed shops or to customers with a prescription from a medical professional.

Chokwan "Kitty" Chopaka, a well-known cannabis activist in Thailand, said the new medical bill could see a 90% drop in licensed cannabis shops in Thailand.

Legal amendments that make cannabis smokers 

 if a neighbour reports them and claims they can smell the drug, have infuriated two NGOs.

"The new cannabis amendments demonstrate a government that has lost all sense of direction and is now a hostage to the cannabinoid industry," ReLeaf Malta and Moviment Graffitti said in a statement on Sunday.

"The violation of privacy and anonymity reduces personal rights and gives fresh impetus to a culture of stigma against thousands of cannabis consumers and cultivators in Malta and Gozo," they added.

The new, stricter regulations against people who smoke and cultivate cannabis were approved by parliament earlier this month.

Malta: NGOs infuriated by new regulations on cannabis smoke that annoys neighbours

The Netherlands expanded a government-run initiative on Monday allowing legal cannabis sales.

While growing cannabis is still illegal, cannabis shops — known as coffeeshops — in 10 municipalities will be allowed to sell marijuana from 10 licensed producers.

“Weed was sold here legally for 50 years, but the production was never legal. So it’s finally time to end that crazy, unexplainable situation and make it a legal professional sector,” Rick Bakker, commercial director at Hollandse Hoogtes, one of the regulated producers, told The Associated Press.

Some 80 coffeeshops are taking part in the experiment which advocates hope this will ultimately end a long-standing legal anomaly — you can buy and sell small amounts of weed without fear of prosecution in the Netherlands, but growing it commercially remains illegal.

Bakker's company in Bemmel, near the German border, is indistinguishable from the surrounding greenhouses producing tomatoes and peppers. But it makes 200 kilograms (440 pounds) of weed per week and is one of the largest producers in the experiment.

A trailblazer in decriminalizing pot since the 1970s, the Netherlands has grown more conservative. 

, long a magnet for marijuana smokers, has been closing coffeeshops in recent years and has banned smoking weed on some of the cobbled streets that make up its historic center.

Advocates have been pushing for a legal growing for years, citing the safety of the product as well as concerns about crime.

Cannabis & related

48th meeting of the WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD)

Transitioning to legality: How to regulate the adult use cannabis market in Colombia

State adult-use cannabis policy effects on law enforcement efforts to disrupt drug markets

Czech Republic bill to legalize marijuana home cultivation and allow psilocybin for medical use heads to President’s desk

Thailand’s cannabis U-turn: Operators have weeks to adapt as recreational use faces ban

Thailand’s cannabis U-turn: Operators have weeks to adapt as recreational use faces ban

European drug report 2025: Trends and developments

One year on, German cannabis legalization has uncertain future

Thailand set to U-turn on recreational cannabis use

Thailand set to U-turn on recreational cannabis use

Malta: NGOs infuriated by new regulations on cannabis smoke that annoys neighbours

Dutch cannabis growers welcome expansion of state-run experiment to make sales legal