The Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) is the governing body of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Essentially, it is the central drug policymaking body of the United Nations (UN). It aims to provide member states and civil society with the opportunity to exchange expertise, experiences, and information on drug-related matters and to develop a coordinated response to the drug situation. Membership is made up of representatives from 53 UN member states, allowing for a spread of geographical representation. Ireland is not currently a member.

In March 2019, representatives from UN member states and civil society met in Vienna for the 62nd session of the CND. As well as plenary sessions, there were approximately 100 side events held.¹ However, a much-anticipated two-day ministerial segment took place at the start of the session; it is this element of the session that is the focus of this article.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS); the World Health Organization; and the International Centre on Human Rights and Drug Policy have collaborated with international experts to produce International guidelines on human rights and drug policy.¹ The outputs of this collaboration were launched to coincide with the 62nd session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in March 2019 – they include a written set of guidelines and an online resource.²

A Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) report, Health, rights and drugs: harm reduction, decriminalization and zero discrimination for people who use drugs, was published in March 2019.¹ It recommends implementing evidence-informed approaches to drug policy that are grounded in human rights and which would reduce the spread of HIV and other diseases through injecting drug use. These include harm reduction services and the decriminalisation of the possession of drugs for personal use. The report was published in advance of the ministerial segment of the 62nd Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) session and its authors advocated that its recommendations be used to inform that process.²

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) published the European drug report 2019: trends and developments¹ on 6 June 2019. This report provides a snapshot of the latest drug trends across the 28 European Union (EU) member states, Norway and Turkey. The Health Research Board (HRB) provides the Irish data.

Research indicates that the most effective alcohol policies are those that regulate the actions of the alcohol industry, including reducing the affordability of alcohol and decreasing its availability.¹ However, national alcohol policies have tended to favour policies that allow the alcohol industry scope for self-regulation and promote non-regulatory measures. This may reflect the influence of the alcohol industry in defining the scope and content of alcohol policy debate. A recent systematic review² published in the journal Addiction investigated the role of the alcohol industry in policymaking and the ways in which the industry attempts to influence this process.