IDPC Advocacy Note- The High Level Segment of the 2009 Commission on Narcotic Drugs : The Political Declaration- a Missed Opportunity

The Political Declaration adopted on the 12th March 2009 at the High Level Segment of the 52nd Session of the CND is a framework and a set of priorities for the next 10 years of international drug policy. IDPC and its members have followed with interest the process for reviewing progress against the objectives set at the General Assembly Special Session on Drugs in 1998 - namely, to eradicate or significantly reduce the production of, and demand for, the non-medical use of controlled drugs. The conclusions of that review and the resulting declaration are deeply disappointing. There is an almost total unwillingness to confront the real policy dilemmas, and a series of increasingly surreal political and diplomatic battles over wording that are entirely disconnected from the reality of drug use and problems as experienced in the outside world. This advocacy note explains the reasons for being disappointed with the CND process of review and the resulting political declaration