The United Nations General Assembly met recently in New York to hold a day-long set of debates and discussions regarding global drug policy. The UN Press Office reported on May 7:
"Insufficient progress in combating the illegal drug trade called for a new global approach that moved beyond a heavy focus on prohibition and addressed consumption from a holistic public health perspective that placed individual human rights and well-being at its core, speakers said today in a General Assembly high-level debate devoted to the issue."
A full-length video of the day-long event is available via the UN. Part one, with an English translation, is at:
http://webtv.un.org/watch/part-1-world-drug-problem-general-assembly-hi…
Part two, again translated into English, is at:
http://webtv.un.org/watch/part-2-world-drug-problem-general-assembly-hi…
CSDP's Doug McVay produced an installment of the radio program Century Of Lies devoted to this UN meeting. It can be heard at:
http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/5326
The discussions were in preparation for a larger set of UN meetings to be held in April 2016, also in New York. This UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs is called UNGASS2016. More information about UNGASS2016 can be found at the UN Office on Drugs and Crime website.
Civil society and various nongovernmental organizations devoted to drug policy issues are working to make their voices heard at the UN and to be part of this process. More information about this can be found at the CND Blog, which is a project of the International Drug Policy Consortium.