The International Society for the Study of Drug Policy (ISSDP) is a society of scholars committed to advancing drug policy research.
El ISSDP el sitio web ahora está disponible en Español.
16th Annual ISSDP Conference
ISSDP 2023 will be hosted by RAND Europe in Leuven, Belgium on 30 May – 1 June 2023.
Abstract submission for the 16th Annual ISSDP Conference is open until 28 February 2023.
Recent Events:
15th Annual ISSDP Conference
Thank you all for attending!! We had 148 participants from 22 countries squeezed into a packed day of presentations, panels and posters.
For those of you in attendance and who are members, you can access conference papers and presentations here.
ISSDP co-produced sessions at Lisbon Addictions
ISSDP at the 6th International Conference on Governance, Crime and Justice Statistics in South Korea

ISSDP took part in the 6th International Conference on Governance, Crime and Justice Statistics on 9-11 November 2022 in Seoul, South Korea. This hybrid conference brought together participants from 123 countries and was organized by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Statistics Korea (KOSTAT), National Institute of Statistics and Geography of Mexico (INEGI) and other agencies.
An ISSDP panel was held on “Developing comprehensive, rigorous and innovative approaches to measuring and monitoring illicit drug supply” comprised of Adrian Franco (INEGI, Mexico), Beau Kilmer (RAND Corporation, USA); Hai Luong ( University of Queensland); Letizia Paoli (Leuven Institute of Criminology, Belgium) and Caitlin Hughes (Flinders University, Australia), while Angela Me (UNODC), John Collins (GI-TOC) and David Decary-Hetu (University of Montreal) took part in sessions on Illicit Financial Flows, Measuring and Monitoring Organised Crime and Online Fraud.
Recordings are now available on the UNODC YouTube channel:
- Day 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgNIUR0Sx9k&t=27s
- Day 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-tMC3tU9L4&t=3s
- Day 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_-UYceUl7U&t=13793s
- Recap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37e4oY7YpMg
ISSDP and UNODC Virtual Side Event at the 65th Commission on Narcotics Drugs meeting on the Policy Impact of Cannabis Legalization from a Scientific Perspective. Tuesday, 15 March 2022
The virtual side event explored scientific evidence on the implications of cannabis legalization. As of April 2021, legal provisions that allow the non-medical use of cannabis have been adopted in Canada, Uruguay and in 20 jurisdictions of the United States. The purpose of the discussion was to look at the complexities of the research evidence related to cannabis markets in these countries and assess to what extent this evidence can inform about the net impact of cannabis legalization. Factual evidence was discussed on a wide range of possible impacts, from public health-related to implications for other social phenomena.
A video of this webinar is available to ISSDP members
ISSDP Membership General Assembly Meeting
ISSDP held a virtual general assembly meeting of its members on Tuesday, February 1st 2022. In addition to agenda items, we held a “Meet the Author” event with Alison Ritter, author of Drug Policy.