The Global Commission on Drug Policy has urged governments to move away from punitive drug policies and recognize children and young people involved in illicit drug economies as victims in need of protection, healthcare and support.
Launching a new policy brief in Geneva on Wednesday, the commission said children and young people are profoundly affected by drug laws and their enforcement, regardless of whether they use drugs themselves. Their rights, experiences and voices, however, remain largely absent from drug policy discussions.
The brief, titled Making Children and Young People Visible in Drug Policy: A Child Rights-Based Agenda for Reform, calls for policies based on evidence, public health, human rights, child protection and meaningful participation by young people.
“Children are too often invoked to justify punitive drug policies, while the harms those policies cause them remain invisible,” said Helen Clark, chair of the commission and former prime minister of New Zealand.
“A policy cannot be called protective if it criminalizes children, separates families, denies them healthcare, and/or punishes those who have been exploited,” she said.
The commission said punitive approaches can expose children to arrest, detention and violence, while separating them from their families, disrupting education and limiting access to essential medicines and health services.
It called for children and young people recruited or exploited within illicit drug economies to be treated primarily as victims rather than offenders.
Poverty, violence, displacement and exclusion can create conditions for organized criminal groups to exploit children, the commission said. Child protection, education, social protection and community-based support should therefore take precedence over punishment, which can deepen their vulnerability.
“Children involved in illicit drug economies are often trying to survive in conditions shaped by poverty, violence, and exclusion,” said Juan Manuel Santos, a commission member, former president of Colombia and Nobel laureate.
“Treating them as criminals compounds the exploitation they have already experienced,” he said, calling on governments to hold accountable those who recruit and profit from children while providing them with protection, education and safe routes out.
The commission identified four priorities: preventing the detention of children under punitive drug policies; ensuring access to essential controlled medicines; providing child- and youth-friendly health services; and protecting children exploited in illicit drug economies.
It urged governments to expand diversion, restorative justice and community-based alternatives for children arrested or prosecuted for drug use, possession or involvement in illicit drug economies.
It also called for equitable access to medicines needed for pain relief and palliative care, noting that regulatory barriers, weak health systems and inadequate pediatric formulations can leave children without essential treatment.
For young people facing drug-related harms, the commission recommended confidential, evidence-based and youth-friendly health services.
It said stigma, age restrictions and barriers to confidential care can prevent young people from receiving timely support.
Harm-reduction measures, including access to naloxone and other overdose-prevention interventions, should form part of a broader continuum of prevention, treatment, recovery, mental health and social support, it said.
The commission said children remain largely overlooked in international drug policymaking.
Between 2000 and 2026, the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs adopted approximately 300 resolutions, but only 19 specifically focused on children and young people.
The new brief drew on 11 consultations across five continents involving more than 150 participants from about 47 countries, including children and young people, child rights advocates, health professionals, civil society organizations, government representatives, UN officials and drug policy experts.
“Policies talk about youth, but youth are never part of the discussion. We want to be part of the solution, but no one invites us to the table,” a young participant from Pakistan said.
The commission urged governments and UN entities to allocate resources equitably to communities disproportionately affected by drug policies and related harms.
The brief comes as the international drug control system undergoes a review mandated by the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs in March 2025.
The commission said the process offers an opportunity to give children and young people a greater role in shaping future drug policy.
A child- and youth-friendly version of the brief has also been released.
The Global Commission on Drug Policy comprises 26 commissioners, including 15 former heads of state and government and leaders from politics, public health, human rights, law enforcement, civil society and academia.
It promotes evidence-based drug policies grounded in public health, human rights and social justice.