In the Outcome Document of the Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on the World Drug Problem (UNGASS 2016), UN Member States acknowledged that efforts to achieve the SDGs and to address the ‘world drug problem’ were ‘complementary and mutually reinforcing’.

Illicit drug markets and efforts to address them cut across almost all of the SDGs and the commitment to leave no one behind. Ensuring that drug policy and the 2030 Agenda are coherent is essential to the achievement of the commitments made by UN Member States.

This discussion paper reviews some of the ways that countries continue to use the flexibility available in the drug conventions to promote inclusive development, human rights, public health, and evidence-informed approaches. In this context, this discussion paper presents innovative steps taken by UN Member States to implement commitments undertaken at the 2016 UNGASS, and with respect to the 2030 Agenda. These initiatives might help countries better understand how to address drug-related issues in their respective environmental, economic, political and social circumstances.