From March 10th to 14th, 2025, Rebeca Marques, Teresa Castro, and Rebeca Calzada, members of Youth RISE attended the 68th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs held at the United Nations in Vienna, Austria. The CND is a unique space-time bubble where government representatives, UN agencies, civil society advocates, and donors meet to observe, discuss, and influence the international drug policy agenda. Each year, we have witnessed in this political arena a slow and growing presence of civil society that continuously demands human rights-centered approaches and a recognition of the harms that the prohibitionist framework continues to cause at both local and global levels.
Traditionally, resolutions (politically agreed texts that Member States adopt to guide global drug policy implementation) discussed in the CND are drafted and redrafted following consensus. Because of that, the documents negotiated end up losing most of their progressive language, with a consistent lack of acknowledgement of the disproportionate impact drug policies have on youth, racialized people, women, and other marginalized populations. This year’s 68th CND included the negotiation of several resolutions, among them was a proposal to review the international machinery that guides the drug control system. The review aims to establish an independent and interdisciplinary panel of specialists, appointed by different stakeholders and UN agencies, tasked with conducting a comprehensive external review of how the drug conventions are being implemented. This is not a minor matter: it implies, for the first time, a call to assess whether current drug control strategies are actually delivering on their promises, therefore putting current policy approaches under scrutiny and questioning Other resolutions addressed the promotion of evidence-based prevention and the development of scientific interventions for the treatment and care of stimulant use disorders.
In this context, Youth RISE’s attendance aimed to promote the voices and lived realities of young people who use drugs and their inclusion in drug policy discussions, development, design and implementation. Youth RISE, alongside more than 25 co-sponsoring organizations and agencies (including OHCHR, WHO, UNDP, and UNICEF), organized a hybrid side event titled “I Wish They Had Told Us How to Be Safe”: Youth-Centred and Human Rights Compliant Drug Harm Reduction Education. The research behind the side’s event, conducted by André Belchior Gomes (Release and Talking Drugs), found that abstinence-based, criminalized drug education fails to prepare students for real-world situations, highlighting the need for culturally sensitive, harm-reducing, and participatory approaches that treat students as informed decision-makers and co-creators of knowledge.
The side event was held on Thursday, March 13th, at the Vienna International Centre. It brought together youth advocates, researchers, government officials, and UN agencies to reflect on the need for drug education grounded in harm reduction, human rights, and real-life relevance. The panellists included Joanne Csete (Columbia University), Damon Barrett (University of Gothenburg), Nina Rose Fischer (City University of New York), Isaac Olushola (Students for Sensible Drug Policy), and Carolina Ahumada (Intercambios Asociación Civil), Susanna Ronconi (Forum Droghe). It was moderated by Rebeca Calzada (Youth RISE) and included opening remarks by Nathalia Dutra (SENAD-Brazil) and closing remarks by Silvia Dimitrova (OHCHR).
The panelists presented evidence on the failures of abstinence-only drug education, highlighting how such models often exclude young people who already use drugs and fail to provide information that could keep young people and their communities safer from possible drug-related harm. Speakers emphasized the importance of inclusive, age-appropriate harm reduction education that, while promoting safety, also reduces stigma and aligns with their right to health and access to information. The discussion focused on the evidence-based approach and moving away from the abstinence-only, fear-based narratives that still dominate many school systems, to include harm reduction as a rights-based, life-affirming approach to drug education that can be pragmatic, age-appropriate, and deeply connected to the realities of young people. Learn more about this side event in the report.
Moreover, speakers also emphasized that young people and peers often have to navigate drug situations with misinformation and stigma, with few accessible sources of safety information, especially those who already use drugs. The session concluded by stressing the need to integrate harm reduction into school curricula, not just as a health intervention, but rather as a pathway to greater autonomy and safety while going through complex realities.
Teresa Castro, International Working Group member of Youth RISE from Portugal, participated in Skoun’s side event “Addressing Gender Inequalities and Compounding Vulnerabilities in Drug Policy.” The panel featured experts from key harm reduction organizations such as MENAHRA, SANPUD, and Justice Project Pakistan.
Teresa shared her perspective as a young woman who uses drugs and a social worker, emphasizing how, despite Portugal’s reputation for decriminalization, people who use drugs continue to face stigma, institutional punishment, and exclusion. She mentioned how both social work and harm reduction fail to engage the most marginalized communities and remain complicit in reinforcing these harms.
She recommended the development of inclusive, intersectional policies, the need to address social determinants of health, and the importance of moving beyond decriminalization.
The 68th session of the CND was an eventful meeting, marked by a historic decision to adopt resolution E/CN.7/2025/L.6/Rev.1 as amended by resolution E/CN.7/2025/L.10. With the decision, a 19-member independent and multidisciplinary expert panel will be established to evaluate the implementation of the current global drug control regime. This marks a rare opportunity for potential transformation in international drug policy. But there is still much to do. The panel composition will be appointed following discussions over the upcoming year. The panel will comprise members selected by the CND, the UN Secretary General, the INCB, and the WHO.
Once established, the panel will have one year to analyze the state and outcomes of the current drug control regime and develop recommendations ahead of the 2029 high-level review. This opportunity could be an awaited shift in the focus toward health, human rights, and evidence-based drug responses. For this process to be truly transformative, the voices, experiences, and knowledge of young people must be an important part of reimagining a global drug policy framework that prioritizes care, justice, and human dignity.