Resolution number: 05
Title: Dealing with the Drugs Problem – A Liberal Approach

Adopted by the 60th Congress of Liberal International

The Congress of Liberal International, convened in Mexico City, DF, Mexico, on 31 October 2015

Takes note of:

• The report of the Organisation of American States (May 2013) entitled “The Drug Problem of the Americas”, discussed at the 191st Executive in Antigua, Guatemala in October 2013, in which “an approach in which drug use is treated as a public health issue and consumption reduced through evidence-based prevention campaigns” was recommended. They also encourage experimenting with legal regulation models for certain drugs.”

Take note of: 

• The report of Global Commission on Drugs Policy (June 2011) and hereby adopts its conclusions as follows, calling on member parties to campaign for their implementation.

1. Break the taboo. Pursue an open debate and promote policies that effectively reduce consumption, and that prevent and reduce harms related to drug use and drug control policies. Increase investment in research and analysis into the impact of different policies and programs.
2. Replace the criminalization and punishment of people who use drugs with the offer of health and treatment services to those who need them.
3. Encourage experimentation by governments with models of legal regulation of drugs (with cannabis, for example) that are designed to undermine the power of organized crime and safeguard the health and security of their citizens.
4. Establish better metrics, indicators and goals to measure progress.
5. Challenge, rather than reinforce, common misconceptions about drug markets, drug use and drug dependence.
6. Countries that continue to invest mostly in a law enforcement approach (despite the evidence) should focus their repressive actions on violent organized crime and drug traffickers, in order to reduce the harms associated with the illicit drug market.
7. Promote alternative sentences for small-scale and first-time drug dealers.
8. Invest more resources in evidence-based prevention, with a special focus on youth.
9. Offer a wide and easily accessible range of options for treatment and care for drug dependence, substitution and heroin-assisted treatment, with special attention to those most at risk, including those in prisons and other custodial settings.
10. The United Nations system must provide leadership in the reform of global drug policy. This means promoting an effective approach based on evidence, supporting countries to develop drug policies that suit their context and meet their needs, and ensuring coherence among various UN agencies, policies and conventions.
11. Act urgently: the war on drugs has failed, and policies need to change now.