From March 19 – March 25, 2016, advocates and experts from North and South America will embark on a weeklong tour of the U.S. to meet with local leaders and discuss the growing worldwide movement to end the failed war on drugs – at home and around the world. Katal is proud to host and facilitate this 5-city tour.
The tour comes just weeks before the first official gathering on global drug policies in nearly 20 years: the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on the World Drug Problem, which takes place in New York City from April 19 –21.
With stops in Atlanta, Denver, Seattle, Chicago, and New York City, the delegation will bring attention to how the 2016 UNGASS holds local, national, and global implications to the world’s broken drug policies.
The last UN Special Session on drug policy was held in 1998. Shaped dramatically by the U.S. and its failed war on drugs, the 1998 gathering focused on expanding the drug war for total elimination of drugs from the world within ten years. The 2016 UNGASS represents a unique opportunity for nations to advance more effective drug policies based in science, health, and human rights.
The 2016 UNGASS was called in the midst of growing momentum around the world to end the ineffective and dangerous drug war. In Africa and Latin America, political leaders are calling for substantive new solutions to reduce drug war related crime and violence. In the U.S., bipartisan support for drug policy reform is growing: from efforts and changes in criminal justice policies at the federal level, to the legalization of marijuana in four states, to municipal efforts to advance new approaches to drug policy to improve health and safety.