In 2009, UN member states set 2019 as the target date for eradicating the illegal drug market. Next March, the international community will take stock of progress and delineate the global drug strategy for the next decade. In the absence of a formal review for the last 10 years of drug control, the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) has produced a civil society shadow report, which assesses the progress made, or lack thereof, against the objectives of 2009. The analysis shows that the scale of drug cultivation, production, trafficking and use has increased exponentially over the past decade, and the negative impacts on human rights have been severe.
This conference saw an exchange of ideas on policy and practice regarding drug control policies at the multilateral level and discuss how punitive drug policies impact the International Geneva mandates.