WOLA: Advocacy for Human Rights in the Americas
19 Apr 2016 | Video

UN General Assembly on Drugs: The Beginning of a Change in the Drug War Paradigm

This week, world leaders are gathering at the United Nations in New York for the highest-level meeting on drug policy in nearly two decades. The United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on drug policy is illustrating growing divisions in the “drug war” model as more states speak up in opposition to ineffective, punitive policies.

WOLA is at the UN in New York observing and participating in the proceedings. Senior Fellow Coletta Youngers offers insights into the proceedings and explains how, despite attempts to limit debate in support of reform, numerous countries have spoken out from the floor of the General Assembly and called for an alternative policies.

For more information on next steps after UNGASS to reform the international drug treates with regard to cannabis legalization—a veritable “elephant in the room” at UNGASS that has been cautiously avoided—see “Cannabis and the UN Drug Treaties: Strategies for Reform.”