The 141st session of the International Narcotics Control Board yielded a cooperation agreement for improving the availability of internationally controlled medicines.
IDPC welcomes the Board's increasing focus on human rights issues and cannabis regulation, whilst regretting its misrepresentation of the evidence on the latter, flawed interpretations of the relationship between human rights and drug control treaties, and a lack of constructive thinking on how to address the proliferation of systemic breaches in the global drug control regime.
WHO improves its information-sharing process by introducing a new single-source repository, representing the only online, freely accessible collection of information and reports on new psychoactive substances and medicines.
The INCB reviews the functioning of the international drug control system, dedicating a thematic chapter to the analysis of the trend to legalise the non-medical use of cannabis.
IDPC addresses the tensions facing the INCB, and the global drug control regime as a whole, in relation to the increasing number of jurisdictions adopting legally regulated markets, and concludes on the need for reform and modernisation.
To mark this year's Human Rights Day, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) calls on States parties to the three international drug control conventions to place human rights at the centre of their drug control policies.
Urgent action is needed to ensure that national systems improve access to controlled medicines for people affected by emergencies, including pandemics, and climate-related disasters.
