24 July 2026
Back at the Table:
MAPS Returns to the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs
By: Robert Lugo, Policy & Advocacy, MAPS
MAPS Bulletin: Volume XXXVI
In March, MAPS returned to the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) for the first time since 2020. The CND is the most significant international body focused on global drug policy. Established in 1946, the Commission oversees the international treaties that form the backbone of the global drug control regime.
The 69th session of the CND, held March 9–13 in Vienna, brought together over 2,000 participants from 134 UN member states and 198 global NGOs. The main sessions were a forum for discussion, debate, and policy statements by senior government officials and civil society leaders, including Presidents, legislators, agency directors, and the heads of several UN bodies. Decisions were made to regulate or criminalize newly emerging drugs, UN resolutions were negotiated line-by-line, and alliances shifted and emerged in response to the global unrest of the past year.
Meanwhile,166 official side events were held on-site, offering more focused, nuanced discussions of important policy questions. Hosted by national delegations and global NGOs, these events foster dialogue and collaboration among governments, academics, civil society organizations, and affected communities. Side events are the fertile soil in which ideas, policy proposals, practice innovations, and movements grow before they are translated into the more formal UN administrative process. MAPS plays an essential role in these discussions, bringing evidence-based, public-health-focused perspectives to the heart of the global War on Drugs.
Engagement at the United Nations level is essential to ensure that the emerging field of psychedelic medicine develops within a robust framework grounded in scientific evidence, clinical rigor, and regulatory responsibility. As clinical data continue to accumulate, the question is no longer whether these compounds have therapeutic potential, but how to responsibly integrate them into healthcare systems. This requires coordinated international dialogue among institutions, researchers, clinicians, and civil society to shape policies that are both evidence-based and responsive to the complexity of global mental health and drug policy challenges.
Dr. Matteo Buonarroti, Vice President and Co-Founder of the Società Italiana di Medicina Psichedelica (SIMEPSI)
Why MAPS Goes (and Why It Matters)
International drug control treaties have a profound impact on the lives of ordinary people around the world. They provide legal scaffolding that shapes law and policy related to controlled substances — from medical research, to combatting transnational organized crime, to individual drug possession. Three key treaties, passed between 1961 and 1988 and ratified by the vast majority of UN member states, place over 300 substances into different groups or “schedules” and require nations to criminalize their sale, possession, and use outside limited medical or scientific contexts. New substances are added every year. Sadly, these scheduling decisions are often based on stigma and outdated perceptions of danger rather than direct evidence.
It would be difficult to overstate the impact of these treaties on local drug policies worldwide. They create legal obstacles to proven harm-reduction strategies such as safe consumption sites and drug-checking services that save lives every day. Leaders and policymakers interested in reform are often constrained by treaty obligations, as violations risk significant political or economic consequences. At the same time, action at the UN level has helped spread compassionate use programs, scientific research, medical approvals, and decriminalization efforts in countries across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. These efforts will only become more essential as psychedelic treatments receive FDA approval and re-enter the mainstream healthcare system. If we hope to make legal access to psychedelics possible for all who could benefit, advocates must engage at the international level.
MAPS has been active at the CND since 2015, working to shift the conversation away from ineffective, punishment-based frameworks towards a public health approach grounded in evidence and human rights. At the 61st CND in 2018, MAPS and the Czech Republic co-hosted The Right to Science and Freedom of Research with Scheduled Substances, a landmark side event that brought together experts and academics from around the world to discuss barriers to psychedelic research and pathways forward. MAPS has supported side events alongside allies, including the International Center for Ethnobotanical Education, Research, and Service (ICEERS), the Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP), and Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), among others. In that context, MAPS returned to the CND this year with an international delegation reflecting the global character of the modern psychedelic movement.
Delegates included:
- Dr. Michèle Anne Barocchi, Director and Co-Founder of MAPS Italia
- Dr. Matteo Buonarroti, Vice President and Co-Founder of the Società Italiana di Medicina Psichedelica (SIMEPSI)
- Tadeusz Hawrot, Founder and Executive Director of the Psychedelic Access and Research European Alliance (PAREA)
- Chris Raine, Founder of The Peridot Clinic and the Psychedelic Consultancy in Australia
- Robert Lugo, MAPS Policy & Advocacy Team
Human Rights & Public Health
The most encouraging theme that emerged across the week-long conference was a push to incorporate human rights and public health perspectives into global drug policy. At least 55 side events focused on topics such as harm reduction, addiction treatment, stigma, violence, police abuses, medical access, women’s rights, discrimination, youth engagement, economic development, and the environment. Government officials, UN officers, and NGO leaders shared ideas, case studies, and frameworks for translating human rights commitments into actionable policy. This shift was welcome at an event historically focused on prosecuting a global War on Drugs.
Many events included senior government officials from countries central to the international drug trade. President Gustavo Petro of Colombia spoke passionately about the failures of a prohibition-focused approach over decades of heavily militarized, often violent, punitive drug policies in Colombia. He named organized crime and violence as the inevitable outcomes of prohibition, and described a more effective alternative that has yielded the largest cocaine seizures in his nation’s history through non-violent efforts to provide viable alternatives to rural farmers and communities. Marta Machado, Brazil’s National Secretary for Drug Policy, described how harsh, prohibition-focused policies fueled the growth of cartels in the Amazon region. She went on to describe new programs focused on combatting violence, addressing police abuses, treating addiction, and creating sustainable alternatives for rural and Indigenous communities that have become a source of forced labor for transnational cartels. Even countries that remain firmly committed to prohibition showed signs of change. Officials from Pakistan, for example, spoke of recent legal reforms that abolished the death penalty for drug-related offenses and established a legal aid program for impoverished women accused of drug-related crimes. China, historically one of the most prohibition-focused countries in the CND, voted for a public health and harm reduction resolution opposed by the US and Argentina.
From right to left: Robert Lugo, Tadeusz Hawrot, Chris Raine, Michèle Anne Barocchi, Matteo Buonarroti
Photo courtesy of Robert Lugo
Prohibition & Politics
For every side event focused on human rights or harm reduction, two focused on prohibition, policing, or the pursuit of a theoretical ‘drug-free society.’ The United States was particularly notable in this regard. US delegates advocated for a re-commitment to War on Drugs policies, including the use of lethal military force, and highlighted initiatives such as the “Southern Shield” coalition and the forcible capture of President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela. They also openly accused member states, including China, Canada, and Mexico, of being responsible for the US drug crisis.
Building on the US withdrawal from the World Health Organization after 78 years as a founding member, the US pushed to remove references to the WHO, gender, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals from relevant resolutions. Disappointingly, US delegates also led opposition to a resolution focused on public health and harm reduction, arguing that harm reduction “contributes to the normalization of drug use.”
The US was not alone in its commitment to prohibition and punishment. Argentina, under the right-wing Milei government, joined the US in opposing multiple resolutions. China actively promoted its efforts in policing synthetic drugs, maintaining strict control over precursor chemicals used in drug manufacture, and promoting international law enforcement cooperation. Law enforcement organizations from around the world were prominent throughout the conference, often (though not always) advocating for prohibition and punishment-focused policies.
Russia and Iran, historically among the most aggressive proponents of prohibition, are no longer voting members of the CND. Nevertheless, their delegations remained strong advocates for prohibition in sessions throughout the week.
Photo courtesy of Robert Lugo
Drug Policy Innovation in the Czech Republic
The Czech Republic has been a global leader in public-health-focused drug policy since the end of Communist rule in the 1990s, and a leader in psychedelic research for well over a decade. Led by Pavel Bem, Czech National Drug Coordinator and former mayor of Prague, the Czech delegation continued to be a prominent voice for evidence-based, common-sense policy reform at this year’s CND.
In January 2026, the Czech Republic became the first country in Europe to create a legal framework for the therapeutic use of psilocybin. They detailed this landmark policy at the event Medical Use of Psilocybin in the Czech Republic: A New Legal Framework and Access to Care. Under this system, psychiatrists with specialized training in psychedelic therapy may administer synthetic psilocybin to patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), cancer-related depression, and other serious mental health conditions. The system builds on the Czech framework for medical cannabis, making psilocybin available for medical use while otherwise remaining a controlled substance. This program is being closely watched by leaders on both sides of the Atlantic. As psychedelic therapies move towards FDA approval in the US and compassionate use programs spread across Europe, lessons learned from the Czech Republic could help shape the future of mental health care worldwide.
Looking beyond the medical sphere, Novel Regimes of Psychoactive Substances’ Control at the National Level showcased a new Czech regulatory framework for “psychomodulatory substances.” This framework — also launched in January 2026 — responds to a flood of new synthetic drugs that have entered the Czech market in recent years. These substances are widely available online, at retail outlets, in vending machines, and via underground dealers. Usage has spread rapidly among minors, a common pattern across the US and Europe. Recognizing the failure of prohibition to meaningfully reduce drug use and the risk posed by widespread, unregulated availability, this framework offers an alternative approach that creates a system of licensed vendors, specialized shops, and strict age verification for both retail and online sales of select psychoactive substances. The goal is to catch new drugs as they enter the market, rapidly evaluate health and addiction risks, and move lower-risk substances into a regulated system that fills the gap between unregulated sale and prohibition-fueled black markets. While the program has faced challenges, it promises to be an important test case for global policymakers, providing a model for more effective, health-focused, evidence-based regulation of new and lower-risk psychoactive substances worldwide.
Regional Collaboration as a Way Forward
Regional collaboration was also a prominent theme. Modifying the core UN drug control treaties has proven extraordinarily difficult and requires broad multi-state coordination. While scheduling decisions for specific substances can be made through a simple majority vote, structural reform to these frameworks requires unanimous consent from 180+ national delegations — a near impossible task.
Even modest scheduling changes can be daunting. This was illustrated in the critically important case of the coca leaf. At the 2023 CND, Bolivia and Colombia proposed rescheduling coca leaf out of Schedule 1, the most restrictive category intended for substances that are “highly addictive and highly liable to abuse.”1 Bolivia and Colombia presented extensive evidence that this Schedule I designation is scientifically unfounded and legally incoherent, a relic of colonial prejudice against Indigenous traditions. Coca leaf has been used by Indigenous populations in the Amazon and Andes regions for millennia in medical and ceremonial practices, often chewed or brewed in tea. This motion resulted in a groundbreaking outcome: a systematic review of the coca leaf by the World Health Organization. In the end, despite finding that “traditional coca leaf use by chewing or in tea does not appear to pose a particularly serious public health risk”2 and that “coca leaf may have some therapeutic applications,”2 the WHO recommended against rescheduling. Following this recommendation, the CND declined any change.
Recognizing the challenge of structural reform at the UN level, this year’s CND saw increased interest in “inter se” agreements — changes to treaty provisions negotiated among a subset of signatories. These changes are binding only among the smaller group of countries within which they are negotiated, and must occur within the broader goals of the original treaty. Inter se agreements are controversial, but are gaining traction among leaders in Latin America, the Nordic countries, and Central Europe as groups of like-minded member states see them as the most viable path forward. The event Nordic Mobilization on Human Rights and Drug Policy explored opportunities for countries with shared values to learn from one another while tailoring policies to meet local needs. At the event What Comes Next After the Critical Review of the Coca Leaf?, leaders from Latin America and Europe explored concrete possibilities for reform regarding legal cultivation and use, opening trade of coca leaf across borders, and broader collaboration on research and political reform.
Photo courtesy of Robert Lugo
Environmental Impact of the War on Drugs
Two of the most eye-opening events at this year’s CND focused on the environmental impact of the global War on Drugs. Centered on From Forest to Dust3, a research collaboration by a coalition of NGOs from Brazil, Colombia, and the UK, these events connected the dots between drug prohibition, transnational drug cartels, deforestation, and environmental destruction in the Amazon and Andes regions. Deforestation is responsible for roughly 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and, by some estimates, is the second-leading cause of climate change after fossil fuels. Operating outside the bounds of regulation or legal oversight, drug production is a leading direct and indirect driver of deforestation, environmental destruction, Indigenous displacement, and violence in the region. A shift to legal manufacture should include assessments of ecological impact, and could provide a valuable opportunity to understand and limit these negative externalities. From Forest to Dust provides an exhaustively researched window into the dynamics, practical logistics, human costs, and environmental consequences of drug prohibition. It makes a compelling case that any realistic climate or human rights strategy must incorporate drug policy reform to be successful.
“At the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, PAREA looked at how international frameworks can better support research on controlled substances. We engaged with the CND Secretariat and explored initial ideas around a potential resolution to strengthen international support for scientific research, including psychedelics. The next step is to work with interested UN member states and other stakeholders, including MAPS, to take this forward.”
Tadeusz Hawrot, Founder and Executive Director of the Psychedelic Access and Research European Alliance (PAREA)
MAPS + Veterans Action Council Event
The Veterans Action Council (VAC) is a MAPS ally and a consistent, vocal presence at the CND. A volunteer-led organization focused on improving health outcomes and access to care for U.S. military Veterans, VAC advocates for an evidence-based approach to regulating plant-based and integrative therapies. MAPS and VAC hosted a side event this year that brought forward both the human consequences of prohibition and the potential of plant medicines in a way rarely seen at the CND.
The event focused on Forrest Hurd and his son Silas. From the age of 4, Silas suffered from severe and life-threatening seizures, at times dozens each day. His condition is commonly known as childhood epilepsy as those diagnosed rarely survive into adulthood. The Hurd family spent years working with doctors to find an effective treatment without success, until they connected with VAC member and cannabis advocate Wade Laughter. Working together, they developed a CBD-rich strain of cannabis that allowed Silas to live seizure-free for more than 4 years. They shared this free of charge with other children suffering from rare diseases, an effort nearly blocked when their local government in California banned cannabis production. Forrest was on hand to tell his story, and the impact was palpable. This set the stage for a broader discussion on expanding medical research and compassionate use programs within the current framework, and the reforms needed to unlock the potential of these medicines.
Final Thoughts
The return of MAPS to the CND was an important step towards making access to psychedelic care safe and accessible for all who can benefit worldwide. It was an opportunity to reconnect with allies, build new relationships, and influence policy development. While progress can at times be slow at times, the global conversation on drug policy is undoubtedly changing. The prominence of topics such as human rights, public health, and harm reduction apparent this year, would have been unthinkable at the CND a decade ago. While there are powerful voices resisting change, a large and growing coalition recognizes that the existing global drug control scheme has run its course, and that punitive policies have largely failed. MAPS is committed to being at the table, ensuring that our evidence-based, public health perspectives — built on forty years of research, education, and advocacy — continue to help shape the future of global drug policy.
Tadeusz Hawrot, Founder and Executive Director of the Psychedelic Access and Research European Alliance (PAREA)
Dr. Michèle Anne Barocchi, Director and Co-Founder of MAPS Italia
Photo courtesy of Robert Lugo & MAPS
Footnotes
- United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2020). Scheduling Procedures Under the International Drug Control Conventions. —
- United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs. (2025). Summary of assessments and recommendations of the 48th World Health Organization’s (WHO) Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD), 20–22 October 2025.
- Intersecção. (2025). From Forest to Dust..
Robert Lugo
Robert Lugo was a member of the Policy & Advocacy team at MAPS, where his work focused on psychedelic policy and equitable access to care. Prior to joining MAPS, he worked with global NGOs, including the World Bank and the Novo Nordisk Haemophilia Foundation to improve and expand health care services in resource-poor environments. His career spans start-ups, media, nonprofits, and global technology companies. Robert holds degrees from Stanford and Columbia University. He is an avid traveler, an amateur chef, and still thinks that a Philosophy degree was a good idea.
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