2016 Outcome Document of the Session on the World Drug Problem

30th UNGA Spe­cial Ses­sion
19 April 2016

Res­o­lu­tion A/RES/S-30/1

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Analysis of precedential value

The UN Gen­eral Assem­bly adopted this text as a res­o­lu­tion with­out a gen­eral vote in April 2016. The Gen­eral Assem­bly is the pre­em­i­nent gov­ern­ing body of the UN sys­tem and con­sists of all 193 UN Mem­ber States.

Accord­ing to the UN’s press team, “act­ing with­out a vote in adopt­ing the out­come doc­u­ment enti­tled ‘our joint com­mit­ment to effec­tively address­ing and coun­ter­ing the world drug prob­lem’ (doc­u­ment A/S-30/L.1), the Assem­bly rec­og­nized the need for a com­pre­hen­sive, inte­grated and bal­anced approach to address the mul­ti­fac­eted chal­lenges pre­sented by drugs around the world. In doing so, it empha­sised that par­tic­u­lar focus should be placed on indi­vid­u­als, fam­i­lies, com­mu­ni­ties and soci­eties.”

Used as precedent

key and vulnerable populations

• “Also take effec­tive and prac­ti­cal mea­sures to pre­vent pro­gres­sion to severe drug use dis­or­ders through appro­pri­ately tar­geted early inter­ven­tions for peo­ple at risk of such pro­gres­sion.” (para­graph 1(a))

• “Pro­mote and strengthen regional and inter­na­tional coop­er­a­tion in devel­op­ing and imple­ment­ing treat­ment-related ini­tia­tives, enhance tech­ni­cal assis­tance and capac­ity-build­ing and ensure non-dis­crim­i­na­tory access to a broad range of inter­ven­tions, includ­ing psy­choso­cial, behav­ioural and med­ica­tion-assisted treat­ment, as appro­pri­ate and in accor­dance with national leg­is­la­tion, as well as to reha­bil­i­ta­tion, social rein­te­gra­tion and recov­ery-sup­port pro­grammes, includ­ing access to such ser­vices in pris­ons and after impris­on­ment, giv­ing spe­cial atten­tion to the spe­cific needs of women, chil­dren and youth in this regard.” (para­graph 1(k))

• “Encour­age the devel­op­ment of viable eco­nomic alter­na­tives, par­tic­u­larly for com­mu­ni­ties affected by or at risk of illicit cul­ti­va­tion of drug crops and other illicit drug-related activ­i­ties in urban and rural areas, includ­ing through com­pre­hen­sive alter­na­tive devel­op­ment pro­grammes, and to this end con­sider devel­op­ment-ori­ented inter­ven­tions, while ensur­ing that both men and women ben­e­fit equally from them, includ­ing through job oppor­tu­ni­ties, improved infra­struc­ture and basic pub­lic ser­vices and, as appro­pri­ate, access and legal titles to land for farm­ers and local com­mu­ni­ties, which will also con­trib­ute to pre­vent­ing, reduc­ing or elim­i­nat­ing illicit cul­ti­va­tion and other drug-related activ­i­ties.” (para­graph 7(j))

combination prevention

• “Pro­mote the well-being of soci­ety as a whole through the elab­o­ra­tion of effec­tive sci­en­tific evi­dence-based pre­ven­tion strate­gies cen­tred on and tai­lored to the needs of indi­vid­u­als, fam­i­lies and com­mu­ni­ties as part of com­pre­hen­sive and bal­anced national drug poli­cies, on a non-dis­crim­i­na­tory basis” (para­graph 1(d))

positive legal determinants

• “Con­sider enhanc­ing coop­er­a­tion between pub­lic health, edu­ca­tion and law enforce­ment author­i­ties when devel­op­ing pre­ven­tion ini­tia­tives.” (para­graph 1(e))

• “Develop and strengthen, as appro­pri­ate, the capac­ity of health, social and law enforce­ment and other crim­i­nal jus­tice author­i­ties to coop­er­ate, within their man­dates, in the imple­men­ta­tion of com­pre­hen­sive, inte­grated and bal­anced responses to drug abuse and drug use dis­or­ders, at all lev­els of gov­ern­ment.” (para­graph 1(l))

• “Pro­mote and imple­ment the stan­dards on the treat­ment of drug use dis­or­ders devel­oped by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the World Health Orga­ni­za­tion and other rel­e­vant inter­na­tional stan­dards, as appro­pri­ate and in accor­dance with national leg­is­la­tion and the inter­na­tional drug con­trol con­ven­tions, and pro­vide guid­ance, assis­tance and train­ing to health pro­fes­sion­als on their appro­pri­ate use, and con­sider devel­op­ing stan­dards and accred­i­ta­tion for ser­vices at the domes­tic level to ensure qual­i­fied and sci­en­tific evi­dence based responses.” (para­graph 1(p))

• “Expe­dite, in accor­dance with national leg­is­la­tion, the process of issu­ing import and export autho­riza­tions for con­trolled sub­stances for med­ical and sci­en­tific pur­poses by using the above men­tioned guid­ance and the Inter­na­tional Import and Export Autho­riza­tion Sys­tem of the Inter­na­tional Nar­cotics Con­trol Board.” (para­graph 2(c))

• “Strengthen mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary mea­sures at the inter­na­tional, regional, national, and local and com­mu­nity lev­els to pre­vent drug-related crime, vio­lence, vic­tim­iza­tion and cor­rup­tion and fos­ter social devel­op­ment and inclu­sive­ness, inte­grate such mea­sures into over­all law enforce­ment efforts and com­pre­hen­sive poli­cies and pro­grammes, and pro­mote a cul­ture of law­ful­ness.” (para­graph 3(a))

harm reduction

• “Invite rel­e­vant national author­i­ties to con­sider, in accor­dance with their national leg­is­la­tion and the three inter­na­tional drug con­trol con­ven­tions, includ­ing in national pre­ven­tion, treat­ment, care, recov­ery, reha­bil­i­ta­tion and social rein­te­gra­tion mea­sures and pro­grammes, in the con­text of com­pre­hen­sive and bal­anced drug demand reduc­tion efforts, effec­tive mea­sures aimed at min­i­miz­ing the adverse pub­lic health and social con­se­quences of drug abuse, includ­ing appro­pri­ate med­ica­tion-assisted ther­apy pro­grammes, inject­ing equip­ment pro­grammes, as well as anti­retro­vi­ral ther­apy and other rel­e­vant inter­ven­tions that pre­vent the trans­mis­sion of HIV, viral hepati­tis and other blood-borne dis­eases asso­ci­ated with drug use, as well as con­sider ensur­ing access to such inter­ven­tions, includ­ing in treat­ment and out­reach ser­vices, pris­ons and other cus­to­dial set­tings, and pro­mot­ing in that regard the use, as appro­pri­ate, of the tech­ni­cal guide for coun­tries to set tar­gets for uni­ver­sal access to HIV pre­ven­tion, treat­ment and care for inject­ing drug users, issued by the World Health Orga­ni­za­tion, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Joint United Nations Pro­gramme on HIV/AIDS.” (para­graph 1(o))

key population and community leadership, societal enablers

• “Inten­sify, as appro­pri­ate, the mean­ing­ful par­tic­i­pa­tion of and sup­port and train­ing for civil soci­ety orga­ni­za­tions and enti­ties involved in drug-related health and social treat­ment ser­vices, in accor­dance with national leg­is­la­tion and in the frame­work of inte­grated and coor­di­nated national drug poli­cies, and encour­age efforts by civil soci­ety and the pri­vate sec­tor to develop sup­port net­works for pre­ven­tion and treat­ment, care, recov­ery, reha­bil­i­ta­tion and social rein­te­gra­tion in a bal­anced and inclu­sive man­ner.” (para­graph 1(q))

intersectionality, stigma and discrimination

• “Ensure non-dis­crim­i­na­tory access to health, care and social ser­vices in pre­ven­tion, pri­mary care and treat­ment pro­grammes, includ­ing those offered to per­sons in prison or pre­trial deten­tion, which are to be on a level equal to those avail­able in the com­mu­nity, and ensure that women, includ­ing detained women, have access to ade­quate health ser­vices and coun­sell­ing, includ­ing those par­tic­u­larly needed dur­ing preg­nancy.” (para­graph 4(b))

gender equality

• “Main­stream a gen­der per­spec­tive into and ensure the involve­ment of women in all stages of the devel­op­ment, imple­men­ta­tion, mon­i­tor­ing and eval­u­a­tion of drug poli­cies and pro­grammes, develop and dis­sem­i­nate gen­der-sen­si­tive and age- appro­pri­ate mea­sures that take into account the spe­cific needs and cir­cum­stances faced by women and girls with regard to the world drug prob­lem and, as States par­ties, imple­ment the Con­ven­tion on the Elim­i­na­tion of All Forms of Dis­crim­i­na­tion against Women.” (para­graph 4(g))