The Commission on Narcotic Drugs’ new 19-member expert panel will help inform the UN’s 2029 global drug policy review, with potential consequences for cannabis regulation, harm reduction, treaty flexibility, and criminal justice reform worldwide.
The United Nations’ Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) recently announced the participants of its newly established Expert Panel, whose purpose is to provide recommendations for the global drug policy review that will take place under the Commission in 2029.
The internationally based members of this new panel will be highly influential in shaping drug policy worldwide. Welcoming the selection of the Expert Panel, Ambassador Andranik Hovhannisyan of Armenia, Chair of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, said, “I am confident that the collective expertise and experience represented in this Panel will contribute to informed and constructive reflections in support of the Commission’s work. The Commission looks forward with interest to the recommendations that will emerge from the Panel’s work.”
In Resolution 68/6 on “strengthening the international drug control system: a path to effective implementation,” adopted at last year’s session, the Commission decided to establish, under its guidance, a multidisciplinary panel of 19 independent experts acting in their personal capacity. The panel’s role is to prepare a clear, specific, and actionable set of recommendations aimed at enhancing the implementation of the international drug control treaties, as well as the obligations of other relevant international instruments and the achievement of all international drug policy commitments, with a view to contributing to the review to be conducted by the Commission in 2029.
The Panel comprises ten members selected by the Commission, five by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, three by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), and one by the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The following experts were selected to serve on the Panel, in alphabetical order:
César Arce Rivas (Paraguay)
Pavel Bém (Czech Republic)
Yacine Bormrah (Algeria)
Cornelis De Joncheere (Kingdom of the Netherlands)
Michael Farrell (Australia)
Alexis Goosdeel (Belgium)
Olga Gvozdetska (Ukraine)
Alberto Hart (Peru)
Adeeba Kamarulzaman (Malaysia)
Natalie Yu-Lin Morris-Sharma (Singapore)
Jagjit Pavadia (India)
Virginia Patton Prugh (United States of America)
Allan Rock (Canada)
Milton Romani Gerner (Uruguay)
Khaled Shamaa (Egypt)
Xiaojing Shan (China)
Elīna Šteinerte (Latvia)
Khalid Tinasti (Morocco)
Renán Villacís (Ecuador)
The Secretary-General appointed Allan Rock (Canada) to serve as one of the panel’s co-chairs. At the March 12 session, the Commission appointed Natalie Yu-Lin Morris-Sharma (Singapore) as the other co-chair. With these appointments, the Expert Panel is now finalized.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime, which serves as Secretariat to the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, will support the Panel’s work.
While the announcement is procedural on its face, the panel’s composition could matter far beyond Vienna. Its recommendations are expected to shape the tone and scope of the Commission’s 2029 review, which means the balance between prohibition-minded voices, public health experts, and reform-oriented figures may help determine how seriously issues like cannabis regulation, treaty flexibility, harm reduction, and criminal justice reform are treated in the years ahead.
Global drug policy advocates and analysts will be watching the work of the panel and its members closely in the lead-up to the 2029 review.
Image: Denelson83, Zscout370 ve Madden, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
