UNGASS shall generate a common front facing the new dynamics and realities of the world drug problem. Among Colombia’s recommendations, I would like to single out greater flexibility within the conventions’ dispositions, providing room for a broad range of perspectives and actions in drug policies, recognizing State autonomy in formulating innovative policies that take into account their own realities. This is an historic moment of reconsideration of both intervention and cooperation strategies, in which the EU and CELAC have been working together for several years. Colombia maintains a very active cooperation agenda with the EU, considered crucial for the implementation of a national drug policy consistent with the approaches informed on Human Rights, public health, supply-demand balance, the promotion of information, research and assessment, among others. Read paper
Martha Paredes Rosero is Deputy Director for Strategy and Analysis in the Drug Policy Direction, Colombian Ministry of Justice, and Coordinator of the Colombia Drug Observatory.
This paper was prepared for the EU-LAC Foundation's Newsletter on "The World Drug Problem" of March 2016. This is a translation of the responsibility of the EU-LAC Foundation; to read the original version in Spanish, please follow the link here.
To learn more about the Colombian context (in Spanish):
Ministerio de Justicia y del Derecho - Observatorio de Drogas de Colombia. (2015)
La Heroína en Colombia, Producción, uso e impacto en la salud pública- Análisis de la evidencia y recomendaciones de política. ODC: Bogotá DC.
Ministerio de Justicia y del Derecho - Observatorio de Drogas de Colombia. (2016)
Reporte de Drogas de Colombia 2015. ODC: Bogotá DC.