The Eastern and Central European and Central Asian Commission on Drug Policy (ECECACD) co-organised a side event at the 69th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) entitled “EU Accession as an Opportunity for Human Rights-Based and Balanced Drug Policy Reform”. he event brought together EU institutions, UN agencies, governments, civil society, and academia to explore how EU enlargement can support evidence-based drug policy reform in candidate countries.

Commissioner Pavel Bém facilitated the discussion, with Commissioner Michel Kazatchkine – serving as both a Global and Regional Commissioner – emphasizing EU accession as a catalyst for shifting from punitive approaches to public health- and human rights-based models.

Contributions were made by Marie‑Aude Tannou (European Commission), Josefina Mavrou (Council of the European Union Presidency (Cyprus)), Ganna Dovbakh (Eurasian Harm Reduction Association), and Boyan Konstantinov (United Nations Development Programme), offering institutional, civil society, and development perspectives.

Discussions highlighted the potential for EU accession to embed harm reduction, decriminalization, and community-led services into national drug policies, and stressed the importance of sustained, inclusive dialogue to align policies with public health and human rights standards.

Read the ECECACD report, “Accession to the EU: A Paradigm Change Towards Health-Based Drug Policy”, here in English.