Dear civil society representatives,

The United Nations General Assembly Special Session, UNGASS, on the world drug problem will be held on 19-21 April 2016. This is the most important meeting around drugs at international level in 20 years. I am writing to you to ask for you expertise in your prevention work as an input to the UNGASS meeting.

In order to include the views and work of civil society, a Civil Society Task Force (CSTF) has been created.  The CSTF acts as official liaison between the United Nations and civil society in the preparatory process of and at the UNGASS.  The objective of the CSTF is to ensure a comprehensive, structured, meaningful and balanced participation of civil society in this process.

The CSTF consists of 31 members representing regions in the world, affected populations and global voices. I represent the global voice of prevention and this is the reason why I am writing to you. I am interested in collecting the voices of civil society around prevention. In particular, I am interested in knowing (i) your best practices and ideas on how to prevent illicit drug use and (ii) your views on global drug policies.
The UNGASS will be structured in five different thematic areas:

  1. Drugs and health;
  2. Drugs and crime;
  3. Human rights, women, children and communities;
  4. New challenges, threats and realities in addressing the world drug problem;
  5. Drugs and (alternative) development.

You are invited to share your input with me along these thematic areas and/or the lines below:

  • What works in prevention and where do you see room for improvement;
  • What do we know and where do we need more knowledge;
  • Innovating ideas;
  • Drug policies and their implementation;
  • Your expectations from UNGASS and beyond.

I also ask you to share descriptions of your prevention models if possible. I aim to add all the models/descriptions/manuals around prevention to the report as an appendix. This will be an important input to the UNGASS process.
Please also remember to state the name and region of your organization and send me () your reply by December 1. 
 
Sincerely,
 
Linda Nilsson
Secretary General, World Federation Against Drugs
Member of Civil Society Task Force, representing prevention
Phone: +46705734259
Email:
Skype: rns_linda

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