CIVIL SOCIETY FORUM ON DRUGS
The Civil Society Forum on Drugs (CSFD) is an expert group to the European Commission. Its membership comprises 45 civil society organisations coming from across Europe and representing a variety of fields of drug policy, and a variety of stances within those fields. Its purpose is to provide a broad platform for a structured dialogue between the Commission and the European civil society which supports drug policy formulation and implementation through practical advice. The momentum for the CSFD’s formation can be traced back to the Green Paper on the Role of Civil Society in Drugs Policy in the European Union (EU Green Paper Reference).
Overall, the CSFD is governed by a core group, comprising the four Chairs of the working groups, along with a Chair and Vice-Chair of the forum itself, again elected by the members of the forum at the plenary.
NEWS
Position Paper on Decriminalisation
Several actors in the field of drug policy have indicated that a punitive approach is counterproductive to achieving the health and welfare of humankind. The 2016 UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on the World Drug Problem (2) confirmed that this is an important step towards active drug...
Position Paper | Alternatives to Coercive Sanctions
In this submission, we define alternatives to coercive sanctions as measures that are offered as an alternative or substitute to punishment, and that consist either in a non-intervention (i.e., a decision to terminate proceedings or to divert people to other services), or offering a...
Contribution from the Civil Society Forum on Drugs in the EU on the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Palestine
Since 7 October 2023, the attention of the international community has been drawn to Israel and Palestine, where war has escalated dramatically. The war has also occupied a central stage at the proceedings of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) held from 23rd to 25th October, and it is likely...
Position Paper | People Who Use Drugs and Mental Health
This World Mental Health Day, in a significant stride towards prioritising the mental health of individuals who use drugs, the Civil Society Forum on Drugs (CSFD) has sent its position paper to the EU Spanish Presidency, the Horizontal Working Party on Drugs, and the European Commission. The...
CSFD Webinar – The European Action Plan on Drugs 2017-2020 and the National Drug Policies
Two CSFD researches take stock of convergences, gaps, developments and areas for improvements
CND side event – Driving change from a shrinking space: Challenges to effective civil society participation in drug policies
Civil society and community participation are at the heart of the Civil Society For Drugs’s mission. One of the thematic working groups of the CSFD focuses exclusively on assessing and promoting civil society involvement in the field of drug policy; in 2021, this working group released a new set...
Report: Quality Standards for Civil Society Involvement in Drug Policy
The CSFD aims to assess and promote civil society involvement in the field of drug policy. In 2020, the working group conducted a literature review to assess existing guidelines and recommendations on how civil society can be involved in policy making in a meaningful way. Based on the findings of...
REPORT – The EU Action Plan on Drugs 2017-2020 & The National Drug Policies in 8 European States
The CSFD would like to share its latest report "The EU Action Plan on Drugs 2017-2020 & The National Drug Policies in 8 European States". Considering the CSFD position on the Action Plan 2017-2020 as “the most progressive EU document” on drug policy so far, the general objective of this...
CSFD Questionnaire
The Civil Society Forum on Drugs is conducting an assessment of the state of implementation of the EU Action Plan on Drugs 2017-2020. We ask practitioner colleagues from the EU Member States and beyond, working in civil society organisations, to fill in the questionnaire by 14 May 2021....