Since the international drug control system was established in the pre-War era, and focused on prohibition in the post-War period with the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs in 1961, it has consistently sought to enforce a policy of elimination of drugs through repression. This ideological, political and one-sided objective has not only failed spectacularly to achieve its own stated goals, but also caused numerous harms to individuals around the world.

At a high-level panel at the Paris Peace Forum 2019 held on Wednesday 13 November, panelists evoked the growing lack of consensus in drug policy at the multilateral level and the needed renewal to fill the gaps in the governance of international drug control policy.

Panelists:
Ruth Dreifuss, Former President of Switzerland and Chair of the Global Commission on Drug Policy
Gunilla Carlsson, Executive Director a.i., Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
Martha Delgado, Vice Minister for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights, Mexico
Alexander Soros, Deputy Chair, Open Society Foundations
Svante Myrick, Mayor of the City of Ithaca, New York, USA

Moderator
Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou, Professor of International History, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies